Magelone

“ Is it not true that one must love him? said Magelone, and she hugged her nurse. I would never have loved a man, whom I had not seen with my own eyes. Would it not then be sinful not to love him whom I have been so fortunate to find? ”

“ There he sat down and looked at the many beautiful flowers that surrounded him. They all looked at him as though with friendly, loving eyes, and he thought deeply of Magelone, and how she had loved him.
— How can a lover, he exclaimed, ever feel lonely? Do not these blue-bells remind me of her charming eyes? Does not this golden leaf remind me of her tresses? Does not the beauty of this lily and rose side by side remind me of her tender cheeks? It is as though the wind blowing through these flowers were trying to sound her sweet name, as though on the strings of a lute. ”

“ Peter also struck up a joyful song, and the fair Magelone's heart was overcome with delight. His voice quivered through the trees, and a distant echo sang back to him. In the glowing sky and the splendour of the cool forest the two travellers saw a reflection of their own love; every sound called to their hearts, and filled them with nostalgic joy. ”

“ Magelone exclaimed. "Of course, if you go about like chanticleer in a rain, they will do so. But hold up your head, and look every one full in the face, and no one will hint at the unlucky story; and even if any one should be so awkward as to allude to it, deny it on the spot."
"We cannot!" said Johanna. "It is true."
Magelone laughed. "That sounds precisely as if you had just been confirmed. True or false, you must deny it. You would not put Otto in the position of step-son-in-law to a circus-rider? And all the rest of us: our step-uncle or step-cousin Carlo Batti? It is too ridiculous!" ”

“ Magelone said, her melancholy smile contrasting oddly with her sparkling eyes. "Do you know I sometimes fancy that I have no heart? It has something to do with my name. The water-witch Magelone, after whom I am called, bequeathed to me her own uncanny nature."
"No, no; you will learn to love," Johanna interrupted. She thought of Otto, and of the way in which he had spoken of Magelone. "You are not actually betrothed yet?" she added.
"Not yet," Magelone replied. "Thus far grandpapa has only informed us both, Johann Leopold and myself, of his desire. ”

“ Johanna made no reply, and was glad when Magelone soon after left the room. How could it be that this woman, who had known Otto from childhood, should judge him so falsely? A man of the world, yes; but far too gay and warm-hearted to be capable of the calculation with which Magelone accredited him. Johanna told herself that she had been wrong to delay sending him the letter for which he had begged her, and she resolved to write to him to-day. ”

“ Magelone exclaimed. "How mean——"
"Child, child! it does not become you to lay the blame on others," her aunt admonished her again. "If you would atone for your fault you must humbly repent——"
"Repent—yes—that I ever wasted a thought upon the vainest and meanest of men!" cried Magelone, bursting into tears, and throwing herself down beside her aunt. "Otto loves no one save himself. He is faithless, false, cowardly. Within the space of an hour he was treacherous to me for Johanna's sake, and to Johanna for my sake. ”

“ Kind old Aunt Thekla was conquered. If Magelone was conscious of the wrong she had done, and was longing to live a new life, how could any one place any obstacle in the way of her marriage with Johann Leopold? But there was still one objection in her mind. "Dear Magelone," she said, "you are right to think that only when we are happy ourselves can we make others so; but shall you be happy? Johann Leopold will be to you the most faithful and judicious of friends, but the love for which you long is not his to give. ”

“ But I love her with a love that no other heart is capable of. Now all I pray for is to make her my wife; my only wish is that her thoughts be of me as mine are of her. Give her also this ring, and ask her to keep it as a little memento of me.
The nurse quickly hurried back to Magelone, who was sick at heart and languishing in bed. She jumped up when she saw her emissary, embraced her and asked her for the latest news. The nurse told her everything and gave her the precious ring. ”

“ Was Magelone what he desired? Johanna would have liked to help him to unburden his mind, but any mention of Magelone seemed to her to be indiscreet, so she merely remarked, "I cannot imagine any one's being too indolent to grasp an offered happiness."
"Happiness!" he repeated, with a melancholy smile. "Happiness! Who believes in it? You do not know how much strength is required for belief; much more than for passionate desire. ”

“ Magelone replied, "Not always. Latterly I have been rather gloomy than gay. What do you think of Johann Leopold?" she added, after a pause.
"I cannot judge yet," Johanna replied. "I have hardly talked with him."
"He does not talk," Magelone interrupted her. "He is just what you have seen him day out and day in. It is the same with every one. Grandpapa is always dictatorial, Aunt Thekla always good and tiresome, Johann Leopold always odd. ”

“ Cattle were grazing on the nearby hills; their bells sounded pleasant in the quiet of the evening. On the other side lay a forest, and Magelone's soul was quiet and serene here for the first time in a long while. She resolved therefore to dwell in this peaceful spot. She went up to the hut and was met by an old shepherd, who had settled here with his wife to raise innocent lambs and till his small field far from the rest of mankind. ”

“ She simply and solely wants some kind of reality. We are not created to lead only the life of butterflies. If we delay in furnishing ourselves with some worthy interest, we shall be driven to seek it by our innate, and often unconscious, desire for it. With Magelone there is also the wayward humour of the child, who always wants most the plaything it cannot have. The Freiherr, she told me with a burst of tears, had declared that he never would receive her again unless she came alone and a beggar. ”

“ It sometimes happened that they would assist unfortunate sailors who were shipwrecked on the nearby coast; on such occasions, Magelone showed herself to be particularly helpful and active. Whenever the old man went out, she would watch over his house, sometimes singing to herself as she sat alone with her spindle by the door ”

“ Then Peter took Magelone home to his parents. They were married, and everyone was overjoyed. The King of Naples was well pleased with the marriage and made peace with his new son.
On the spot where Peter had found his Magelone again, he built a magnificent summer palace. He made the shepherd overseer of the palace, and showered him with great wealth. In front of the palace he and his young wife planted a tree; then they sang the following song, which they afterwards repeated in the same place every spring:
True love endures ”

“ Her name is Magelone; her husband, Lieutenant von der Aue, who lived only eighteen months after their marriage, contrived in that time to run through all her property, and she now lives at Dönninghausen, under the chaperonage of our grand-aunt Thekla, grandpapa's unmarried sister. Let me add that Magelone is as clever as she is beautiful, as accomplished as she is amiable, and that she is especially desirous of welcoming Cousin Johanna to Dönninghausen. ”

“ With Magelone they wage a very amusing petty warfare. Their husbands, twin-brothers, are strikingly alike,—fair and stately like their wives, but better-natured, gayer, more at their ease. Eduard, Hedwig's husband, distinguished himself in the Schleswig-Holstein war, whence come his stiffened arm and several orders,—a crève-cœur, as Magelone maintains, for Hildegard, whose Karl has only won peaceful laurels as an orator at agricultural meetings. To-morrow afternoon the brothers of the sisters are coming. The festival takes place in the evening. ”

“ At dawn, the land lay like an indistinguishable blue cloud low down on the horizon. Peter was almost frightened; the almighty sea and celestial vault that surrounded him seemed so vast and infinite. In the distance he saw a ship sailing toward him, and he almost thought that he was dreaming of his former misfortune. ”

“ Thus do fame, glory, splendour and world-renowned beauty pass away, just as the golden clouds of evening sink behind the distant mountains and leave in their wake for but a brief moment a weak yellow glow: night draws on seriously and solemnly; armies of black clouds pass by beneath the starry splendour; and as the last light is extinguished, its place is taken by fear. ”

“ Perhaps in the corner a boy is sitting, lost in his thoughts; he sees in the dim glow of the lamp a picture of the joyful dawn; he fancies even that he can hear the lively cockcrow and feel the cool breeze rustling through the leaves, awakening the flowers of the meadow from their quiet sleep; he forgets himself and gradually dozes off as the fire burns out. Then he dreams, and everything appears before him in the splendour of the Sun: the well-known homeland, across which wonderful and strange shapes stride; trees grow up which he has never seen before ”

“ Then Magellan, with the three ships which he had, entered the river, through which he ran for more than a hundred leagues, and came out on the other side into the open sea, where he had a stern wind from the east, with which they ran for more than five months without lowering 251their sails, and they fetched some uninhabited islands, in one of which they found some savages, who lived in huts underground. They went to another island where they gave them gold for its weight of iron, by which means they collected much gold: the people also were of a good disposition, and had a king. ”

“ The story is that the natives of the islands, finding Magellan invincible, and believing him to be enchanted, lured the great explorer away by treachery to the little island of Mactan, where they had prepared a pit covered with branches, such as they use to trap wild pigs. Magellan fell into this trap, whereupon the savages rushed out of their hiding-places and shot him in the joints of his harness with poisoned arrows, and one bold man finally finished him off with a spear. They poison their arrows to this day as they did then, by dipping the tip into a decomposed human body. ”

“ Only thirty-one men returned with del Cano to Seville in the first vessel that had ever made the tour of the earth. Though Magellan had not quite reached the Spice Islands when he fell at Mactan, his task had then been accomplished. He had already reached and passed the longitude of the Moluccas, where he had already been; the way home from the Philippines by the Indian Ocean and the Cape of Good Hope was perfectly known to the Portuguese, himself included. Magellan’s name has never received its due recognition in general history. ”

“ They were well governed people, who were at war with other neighbours who were more powerful than themselves; for which reason the king became Christian, with all his people, in order that Magellan might assist him against his enemies. This Magellan offered to do, and with his armed men, and the people of the country, he went against the enemy, of whom he killed many, and burned a village. The enemy got assistance from others, and many came to fight with Magellan, who defeated them, and the struggle was a severe one. ”

“ So it happened that while some of the sailors were from Magellan's country, most of them were Spaniards. These latter were jealous of their leader because he belonged to a different nation from themselves. Some of them talked secretly together and made a plan to imprison him and take possession of the ships.
But Magellan learned of their wicked plot in time to defeat them, and he punished them as they deserved. Only a cool and daring man could have succeeded in defeating so many strong enemies. But he did succeed, and the ships sailed onward as though nothing had happened. ”

“ The broad expanse of waters before him seemed so pleasant to Magellan, after the heavy storms through which he had passed, that he called it by the name it still bears, Pacific. But the worst hardships were still before him. Once more a sea of darkness must be crossed by brave hearts sickening with hope deferred. If the mid-Atlantic waters had been strange to Columbus and his men, here before Magellan's people all was thrice unknown. ”

“ He immediately renewed with fresh gifts the alliance that had been made with the King of Subuth, and promised to subdue the King of Mauthan.
Magellan had a slave, born in the Moluccas, whom he had bought in Malacca some time back; this man was a perfect master of the Spanish language, and, with the assistance of one of the islanders of Subuth as interpreter, who knew the language of the Moluccas, our men managed all their communications. This slave had been present at the battle of Mauthan, and had received some slight wounds in it. For which reason he lay all day long nursing himself. ”

“ Magellan proposed to reach the Spice Islands of the East Indies by the west; for that purpose he hoped to discover a strait at the extreme south of South America, and is said to have declared himself ready to sail southwards to 75° to realize his project. Ruy Faleiro the astronomer, another Portuguese exile, aided him in the working out of his plan, and he found an invaluable financial ally in Christopher de Haro, a member of a great Antwerp firm, who owed a grudge to the king of Portugal. ”

“ There is not a more terrible biography than that of Magellan. Throughout, we have nothing but combat, far voyages, flights, trials, attempted assassination, and at length, death, among the scourges. He fought in Africa, he fought in the Indies, and he married among the brave but ferocious Malays;—whom, by the way, he seems not a little to have resembled.
During his long residence in Asia, he collected all possible information, preparatory to his great expedition, to find the way by America, to the Spice Islands, [272] the Moluccas; thus getting spices so much cheaper than by the old course. ”