Gryphon

“ Father Gryphon agreed to this proposal, and he at once flew down to the beach, and addressing the young Man he invited him to enter the nest. The youth accepted the invitation, and having explained that he was unable to fly, he mounted upon the Gryphon’s back and was speedily carried up the cliff, and deposited with the young Gryphons in the nest. After making a good dinner off the food which the parent Gryphons had just provided for their young ones, the young Man related to the family all his various adventures since the time when he had first made the acquaintance of the Fairy King. ”

“ Life burns wildly in his heart: time throbs along in hot seconds; Eternity unfolds around her far-receding horizons of glory.
The train emits telegrams as it hurls itself forward: "the Gryphon is well:—he is in the presence of his Future:—History watches him:—he is drinking a peg:—the Civil and Military Gazette has caught a glimpse of him:—glory, glory, glory, to the Gryphon, the mock turtle is his wash-pot, over Lyall will he cast his shoe."
Earthquakes are felt all along the line from Peshawar to Kabul. Strings of camels laden with portmanteaus stretch from the rising to the setting sun. ”

“ The twelve jurors were all writing very busily on slates. ‘What are they doing?’ Alice whispered to the Gryphon. ‘They can’t have anything to put down yet, before the trial’s begun.’
‘They’re putting down their names,’ the Gryphon whispered in reply, ‘for fear they should forget them before the end of the trial.’
‘Stupid things!’ Alice began in a loud, indignant voice, but she stopped hastily, for the White Rabbit cried out, ‘Silence in the court!’ and the King put on his spectacles and looked anxiously round, to make out who was talking. ”

“ He, accordingly, bearing some resemblance to Gryphon, counterfeited his ensigns, and came back with a party of his retainers, whom he concealed, as well as those, in the neighbouring wood. He, in the mean time, pursued the chace unarmed. Gryphon again sought him out, and finding him apparently distressed by the loss of a hound, joined him in his search. He was thus decoyed into the ambuscade, and assassinated. ”

“ ‘What is his sorrow?’ she asked the Gryphon, and the Gryphon answered, very nearly in the same words as before, ‘It’s all his fancy, that: he hasn’t got no sorrow, you know. ”

“ "And how many hours a day did you do lessons?" said Alice, in a hurry to change the subject.
"Ten hours the first day," said the Mock Turtle: "nine the next, and so on."
"What a curious plan!" exclaimed Alice.
"That's the reason they're called lessons," the Gryphon remarked: "because they lessen from day to day." ”

“ In the tourney the combatants are ranged under the banner of this Gostanzo on the one side, and that of Norandino on the other. Gryphon and Aquilant serve under the first, and Orlando under the second. They are, however, disguised from each other by borrowed devices, and Gryphon only suspects a knight who bore away the honors of the first day, to be Orlando, from his superior prowess, and from the presence of Angelica, whom he had observed seated amongst the ladies that honoured the spectacle with their presence. ”

“ The master was an old Turtle—we used to call him Tortoise—’
‘Why did you call him Tortoise, if he wasn’t one?’ Alice asked.
‘We called him Tortoise because he taught us,’ said the Mock Turtle angrily: ‘really you are very dull!’
‘You ought to be ashamed of yourself for asking such a simple question,’ added the Gryphon; and then they both sat silent and looked at poor Alice, who felt ready to sink into the earth. ”

“ In the cathedral of Brunswick there is still preserved the horn of some kind of antelope, brought from the Holy Land as “a griffin’s claw,” by Henry the Lion. Three talons of the griffin were preserved at Bayeux, and fastened on high festival days to the altar, and there seems to be some curious legend concerning a cup formed of a gryphon’s claw dedicated to St. Cuthbert A gryphon’s egg was also [Pg 152] considered a valuable curiosity, being used as a goblet in old times when natural history was greatly misunderstood and grossly exaggerated. ”

“ So they went up to the Mock Turtle, who looked at them with large eyes full of tears, but said nothing.
"This here young lady," said the Gryphon, "she wants to know your history, she do."
"I'll tell it her," said the Mock Turtle in a deep, hollow tone; "sit down, both of you, and don't speak a word till I've finished."
So they sat down, and nobody spoke for some minutes. Alice thought to herself, "I don't see how he can ever finish, if he doesn't begin." But she waited patiently.
"Once," said the Mock Turtle at last, with a deep sigh, "I was a real Turtle."
These words were followed by a very long silence, broken only by an occasional exclamation of "Hjckrrh!" ”

“ Griffins are so common at the different presidencies of India that nobody looks at them, and most of these animals are very tame.” I will not, however, abuse the traveller’s privilege.
Griffin, or more familiarly a Griff, is an Anglo-Indian cant term applied to all new-comers, whose lot has been cast in the “gorgeous East.” Whether the appellation has any connection with the fabulous compound, the gryps or gryphon of armorial blazoning, is a point which I feel myself incompetent to decide. ”

“ But that was a talent denied to Grifone: he could not cry. All the same, she was at the point to kiss him, when he once more prevented her—this time without violence.
"Ah, my lady, my lady," he said, with a smile whimsically sad, "have a little pity on a torturing wretch!"
Molly now covered her face and freely sobbed. The scene was heartrending, and Grifone judged that he might give the finishing stroke. He stood over her where she was flung (the poor humble soul) , and laid his fingers lightly on her silken shoulder.
"Love makes a good reader of a man," he said slowly, drawling his words. ”

“ Although the griffin did not bring up more than three birds in a year, yet she was in constant terror until they had learnt to fly, because this same bird used to seize and eat them.
When she learnt that Ghvthisavari had killed their cruel enemy, she came to him, and said: ‘Tell me what thou [33] wishest? why art thou come hither? and I will immediately satisfy thy desire.’ Ghvthisavari said: ‘I have a mother who is ill; unless I take her young griffin’s flesh she will die.’ The griffin said in reply: ‘Thy mother deceives thee, and is not ill at all; she seeks thy death. ”

“ As may be imagined, it does not make a pretty device, although under the circumstances its employment is perhaps permissible. Sebastien Gryphius, Lyons, and his brother François, Paris, who were of German parentage, employed the Griffin in about a dozen variations during the first half of the sixteenth century. The Griffin, however, was utilized by Poncet Le Preux, Paris, some years before the Gryphius family came into notoriety, and it was employed contemporaneously with this by B. Aubri, Paris. ”

“ And so, perhaps (since all good women mother their lovers or lords) , she was face to face with her dead. Tears came to blot out her misery; she could not stay their fall. They anointed also the burning cheeks of young Grifone, and drove him outside himself with love. He kissed her softly again, with reverence, and whispered—
"Courage, sweet lady; I shall be with you. I have it all in hand. The end for you and me shall be happiness undreamed of yet. The Duke comes in a quarter of an hour." ”

“ Greif was happy and Rex was broken-hearted. If Greif had refused to marry Hilda, Rex might perhaps have won her, supplying by his own wealth the fortune which should have been hers through Greif’s ruin.
Luck indeed! There was Greif, nameless and penniless in reality, but unconscious of the awful misfortunes he had escaped, delivered from the borrowed name that was stained, and invested with one more noble and spotless than the other had ever been, lord of Sigmundskron, husband of Hilda, father of a new race. What more could the heart of man desire? ”

“ The baroness thanked Providence, and Hilda thought it was all due to her love for Greif. Perhaps they were all three right, and possibly each shared in some measure the views of the other two. At least so far as the gnomes are concerned, most people who have lived long in forests and solitary places have discovered that their work, if they like it, is performed with a rapidity and skill which is marvellous in their own eyes, and if you do not call the little gentleman who comes at night and helps you by the name of Rubezahl, you may call him the Spirit of Peace. ”

“ This song, the placid melancholy of which was still heightened by its calm and sweet melody, exasperated Gryphus.
He struck his stick on the stone pavement of the cell, and called out,—
“Halloa! my warbling gentleman, don’t you hear me?”
Cornelius turned round, merely saying, “Good morning,” and then began his song again:—
“Men defile us and kill us while loving us, We hang to the earth by a thread; This thread is our root, that is to say, our life, But we raise on high our arms towards heaven.”
“Ah, you accursed sorcerer! you are making game of me, I believe,” roared Gryphus. ”

“ Giglio came up the steps with his horrible bride on his arm, looking as pale as if he was going to execution. He only frowned at the Fairy Blackstick—he was angry with her, and thought she came to insult his misery.
‘Get out of the way, pray,’ says Gruffanuff haughtily. ‘I wonder why you are always poking your nose into other people’s affairs?’
‘Are you determined to make this poor young man unhappy?’ says Blackstick.
‘To marry him, yes! What business is it of yours? Pray, madam, don’t say “you” to a Queen,’ cries Gruffanuff. ”

“ She had always loved Greif, ever since she could remember anything. Why should he not love her? And if they loved each other, they would of course be married in due time. It was but the fulfilment of her life, after all. There was surely nothing in the idea to cause her any emotion. Did not Heaven dispose everything in the best possible way, and was not this the best possible thing that could happen? Did the hawk mate with the wren, or the wild boar with the doe? But the baroness did not understand. She asked Hilda if she should be very unhappy if Greif died, or if he married some one else. ”

“ Gryphius' tragedies—Leo Arminius, Catharina von Georgien, Ermordete Majestät oder Carolus Stuardus, &c., Cardenio und Celinde, Gross-muttiger Rechts-Gelehrter—breathe the same Christian spirit as Vondel's (three are, like so many of the Dutch poet's, martyr-plays) , but Gryphius' are in the more melodramatic Senecan style, which Vondel outgrew as he became familiar with Greek tragedy. They are full of ghost scenes, atrocities, and bombast. The Cardenio und Celinde an Italian novella tragedy, is written in a simpler and more effective style. ”

“ Hanged the poor devils were, and after that very much was made of Grifone. Amilcare took him through all his campaigns, had him well taught, gave confidence for confidence, and found by the time he was at Nona, making his "Gran Tradimento" of Farnese, that he could not get on without him. The accepted remedy for such a state of the case was [Pg 167] to kill the youth at once. Amilcare did not do that, and at first was able to bless himself for his second forbearance. Grifone was privy to all his master's hopes and safeguards ”

“ Greif listened to the rushing noise of their wings, and to their short, clear cry, and he wished that Hilda were beside him, to help him to enjoy the more what already gave him such keen pleasure. To him, indeed, Sigmundskron still had the charm of novelty. Its situation on a high and projecting crag was very different from that of Greifenstein, which latter was but the three-cornered end of a precipitous promontory, cut off from the forest by its single enormous bulwark. ”

“ Gryphus, growing more and more exasperated by the calm and sententious tone of Cornelius, brandished his cudgel, but at the moment when he raised it Cornelius rushed at him, snatched it from his hands, and put it under his own arm.
Gryphus fairly bellowed with rage.
“Hush, hush, my good man,” said Cornelius, “don’t do anything to lose your place.”
“Ah, you sorcerer! I’ll pinch you worse,” roared Gryphus. ”

“ If she is alone in the world, take her name. Call yourself Greif von Sigmundskron, and revive an ancient race without letting your own die out.’
Greif was silent. It had not struck him that such an arrangement might be possible, but he saw at a glance that Rex had dealt a telling blow against his resolution. To have married Hilda as Greifenstein would have always remained out of the question, to have chosen a common and meaningless appellation would have seemed an insult to her, but the idea suggested by Rex was alluring in the extreme. ”

“ Whilst the events we have described in our last chapters were taking place, the unfortunate Van Baerle, forgotten in his cell in the fortress of Lœvestein, suffered, at the hands of Gryphus, all that a prisoner can suffer when his jailor has formed the determination of playing the part of hangman.
Gryphus, not having received any tidings of Rosa, nor of Jacob, persuaded himself that all that had happened was the devil’s work, and that Doctor Cornelius Van Baerle had been sent on earth by Satan. ”

“ Gryphus went on in his jeering way, “as you are a sorcerer, you will live notwithstanding.”
Cornelius put on a smiling face again, and said,—
“Have not you seen me make the pigeons come here from Dort?”
“Well?” said Gryphus.
“Well, a pigeon is a very dainty morsel, and a man, who eats one every day would not starve, I think.”
“And how about the fire?” said Gryphus.
“Fire! but you know that I’m in league with the devil. Do you think the devil will leave me without fire? why, fire is his proper element.”
“A man, however healthy his appetite may be, would not eat a pigeon every day. ”