AN UNBAPTIZED SPIRIT
I have already referred to a pretty tradition still existing among the
peasantry of the Slavonic families that the soul of a child who dies
unbaptized must wander for seven years, beseeching, at the hands of
each Christian person it sees, that precious privilege of which it has
been deprived. If the little soul should fail, during its term of
seven years, to find a Christian man or woman who will hear its cry
and give it the baptism it craves, that soul must forfeit its
soulship, and the being becomes a member of a lower race, assuming
thenceforth the form and character of a river-spirit, and taking up
its abode among the members of that frivolous and somewhat mischievous
family.
* * * * *
There was grief in the house of Pavel Shirkof, a peasant of the
village of Chudyesin, near Perm, beneath the shadow of the dark Urals.
Pavel was unlike most of his kind, for his ideas of happiness were
not as theirs, bounded by the narrow limits of the interior of the
_kabak_ or drinking-shop. Pavel was gifted with an earnestness of
disposition rare enough among men of his standing; he took life
seriously, and had been a good husband to his wife. He had married but
a short year ago, and now, alas! the buxom girl of twelve months since
lay, a young mother, sighing out the last moments of her stricken
life. Unattended by doctor or nurse, far from all skilled assistance,
and watched only by her terrified and ignorant though loving husband,
the poor wife tossed upon her so-called bed, while her tiny child lay
helpless and neglected upon a nest of old potato-sacks and coats and
rags in the corner by the stove--a thing of feeble, struggling
existence as near to its end had Pavel known it, as it was to its
beginning, and this was but a matter of half-an-hour or so. The baby
lay and wailed unnoticed, for her poor father had his dying wife to
attend to, and the sick woman, but half conscious, had not as yet
caught that sound so dear to every mother's ear--her own child's
voice. But suddenly she paused in the restless side-to-side movements
of her head upon the pillow, and appeared to listen.
"Pavel," she said, and her pale cheek flushed, "it is the child. Let
me see it before I die. Hold it near me. Let me take it in my arms!"
Pavel brought the little wailing thing and laid it in the mother's
arms, which scarcely had strength to clasp themselves round their
precious burden.
A beautiful smile went, like a sunset, over poor dying Doonya's
face--the last gleam before nightfall; then she looked anxiously at
the tiny bundle at her breast. "Pavel, my poor man," she said, "the
child has death in its face; it will accompany me into the Unknown; we
shall both leave you together, my soul. God comfort you at this time
of tribulation! But now you shall do her the only service you can ever
render her. Fetch the good priest from Volkova; take Shoora, the best
horse, and the lightest cart, and fetch him quickly, my Pavel, for the
child must be baptized."
But Pavel refused to leave his wife in her present condition. The
child must wait, he said; and in case of emergency any one could
pronounce the baptismal formula. He would do it himself. Meanwhile,
what was the child to him, body or soul, in comparison with his
beloved Doonya?
A very few minutes after this the soul of Doonya passed peacefully
away, and poor Pavel was a widower. In his anguish of mind during that
saddest hour, he had no thought for the tiny bundle of sickly humanity
lying neglected upon its bed of rags and sacking. No neighbours were
at hand. All were at work in the fields. For none had known of poor
Doonya's sudden and immediate need of their services. When at length
Pavel remembered to look at the child, therefore, it was cold and
dead, and might have been so for an hour for all he knew. Pavel was
not so ignorant as to be unaware that the fate of a child dying
unbaptized is most melancholy. He knew, as every Slavonic peasant
knows, that the unbaptized soul, whether of child or grown person, is
doomed to wander over earth and sea and air for seven long years,
seeking for some one sufficiently pure of spirit to hear its
spirit-voice appealing to be baptized. If such an one should hear it
and pronounce the orthodox formula, all would be well with the soul,
and it might depart in peace into those blessed realms where waiting
souls, as Christians believe, rest until the great day of their
resurrection. If, however, none should hear the wanderer (and, alas!
how few are those qualified to catch the tone of a spirit-voice!), and
the seven years should expire, then that poor unbaptized soul must
lose its soulship, and descend among the mortal _rusalki_, or water
nymphs, to be a _rusalka_ for the remainder of her life, cut off
for ever from the blessed privileges of Christianity. Then Pavel was
overcome with sudden remorse, and, in the hope that the soul of little
Liuba (for so the parents had agreed to call her) was still within
hearing, he pronounced aloud the words, "Liuba, I baptize thee in the
name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." But, alas!
it was too late. The little neglected soul had fled away in its
distress and despair, and was already far from the place of its birth,
wandering over sea and land, and crying aloud to every human being
whom it saw: "Have pity, Christian brother (or sister). Hear my cry
and baptize me, or my soulship is lost, lost!"
* * * * *
When the spirit of little Liuba first left the tiny body in which it
had commenced its career, and fled away, it knew not whither to direct
its flight. One central idea was all the consciousness it possessed as
yet, and this was the knowledge--half hope and half despair--which is
given to each infant unbaptized soul for its heritage, namely, that it
has been deprived by misfortune of something which should have been
its dearest possession, the sweet privilege of Christian baptism, and
that it must wander and weep and entreat until such time as it shall
find a baptized Christian into whose own pure soul the cry of the
wandering spirit may enter; from him it may then receive the precious
gift which is its own by right, but of which it had been unfortunately
deprived.
So Liuba's infant soul fled wailing over valley and hill and sea, and
was far away when her widowed father pronounced the baptismal formula
over the poor little wasted body which had once been her earthly
tenement. Liuba knew nothing of the fate predestinated for those whose
seven years expire and find them still without the pale of
blessedness; all this she should learn in good time; at present she
only knew that she must wander and chant her monotonous sorrowful
prayer that she might be heard and baptized.
Red-shirted peasants were busy at work in the fields, together with
gaily-clad women and a few children. It was the time of the cutting of
the corn, and there was much laughter and merriness, while each
peasant did as much work as he felt was good for him, which was not
much; the women worked harder than the men and sang in a light-hearted
manner as they laboured. The men were glad to allow the women to work
as hard as they were willing to; it saved them much trouble.
"Brothers and sisters--Christian people," wailed the child-spirit,
"baptize me and save my soul alive!" But not one of all the
chattering, toiling throng could hear the spirit-voice, for the sounds
of the world were loud in their ears and no other voice could reach
them by reason of the noises which deafened them. So Liuba left them
and fled away over hill and dale, wailing and weeping, for she had
experienced her first taste of failure and disappointment; and
by-and-by she came to the banks of a large river, and here she rested
herself upon the shore, strange and lost and lonely. It was a
beautiful sunny morning in August, and little Liuba could not resist
the charm of the sunshine and the sparkle of the clear water about
her; she saw it with delight, and the rustle of the leaves and the
songs and twittering of the happy birds amid the leaflets overhead
filled her with wondrous joy and content. "How beautiful it all is,"
she cried; "if only it were to be always like this I should not so
much mind my misfortune."
To Liuba's surprise, at the sound of her voice a very beautiful form
suddenly appeared rising out of the water. The shape was that of a
human girl, but indistinct, and with wavy outlines that quivered and
shifted, instead of the fixed lines of a human body. Masses of golden
flowing hair fell over bosom and shoulders and lay floating upon the
ripples of the water, of which it seemed to form a part; and though it
had proceeded from the stream and still lay upon the surface of the
river, yet the hair was not wet and draggled but wavy and dry and
lovely to look upon. Liuba looked at the new-comer with admiration and
joy. "How beautiful you are!" she cried, "and you have heard my voice
and will baptize me!"
The beautiful creature laughed aloud, and the sound of her voice was
like the flowing of shallow waters over the rapids.
"Oh, no!" she cried, "I cannot baptize you, and I would not if I
could! You must be very young or you would know that I am a
river-spirit, a _rusalka_, such as you yourself will be one day,
unless you find some one to baptize you, which is very unlikely. I can
hear your voice for I am a spirit, but mortal men cannot distinguish
your speech, and if they hear anything they say, 'Listen to the
whispering of the wind in the tree-top!' or, 'Do you hear how the
breeze sighs this evening among the reeds in the stream?' Do you not
know that you have but seven years in which to perform your hopeless
task, and that after that you are at liberty to come down among us
here in the cool waters? It were far better to save yourself these
years of disappointment and toiling and to become one of us at once."
But the soul of Liuba thirsted for baptism as the new-born plant longs
for the touch of the sun-god, and she was not satisfied with the words
of the _rusalka_.
"But who _are_ you? and are you baptized? and what do you do down
there in the cool waters?" she asked. The _rusalka_ looked grave
for an instant, and then quickly laughed once more.
"No," she said, "we are not baptized; we are spirits now, but when the
world comes to an end and the rivers are poured out and dried up, we
shall exist no longer. We are the Water Folk, and our ancestors fell
with Lucifer from heaven; at which time we took up our abode here,
instead of following our captain to his home. As for what we do, we
dance and sport amid the shining stones and caves, and chase the
brilliant fishes, and scare the greedy otters; we fascinate silly
humans, and when they follow us into the waves we strangle them or
torture them to death because we hate them."
"Why do you hate them?" asked Liuba.
"Because they have souls and we have none; you will know why in seven
years. And now, good-bye till then, for my sisters await me yonder;
they are ready for the dance, while I tarry chattering here." With
these words the beautiful nymph seemed to fade from the sight, growing
every instant more and more indistinct. Liuba saw her wave her arms
and heard her silvery laugh, and then she quite disappeared. From the
spot where she had stood upon the bank a tiny stream of crystal water
trickled through the grass and flowers and found its way back to the
parent river.
"How terrible!" said Liuba. "Oh, _how_ I hope I shall never be a
_rusalka_!" and a great rush of longing came over the little bankrupt
soul for that baptism of which it knew nothing save its own great need
and desire for the gift, and away she floated once more over woods,
meadows, and rivers, wailing and crying, "Oh, who will baptize me,
baptize me! Christian men, have pity upon a soul that wanders and
weeps, and baptize me!"
But the merchant was too busy over his money-making, or too
preoccupied with his money-losing to have a thought to spare for a
lost soul. And the ships riding upon the bosom of the sea, many of
which Liuba passed in her flight, were filled with sailors who thought
of their dear wives and children at home on shore, and of the loved
cliffs of their native country, but not of the poor bereft spirit
passing in distress and beseeching over the deck of their vessel. Now
and again one would say to his comrade, "What sound was that amid the
rigging like the sighing of wind and the whirring of the wings of a
bird that flies from land to land?" and the other would reply: "I
heard no sound, and it is too dark to follow the flight of a bird
to-night." Even the worshippers in the churches were unable to hear the
spirit-voice; they were busy praying for themselves or for their dear
ones; some thought of worldly matters in spite of themselves, some
were sad for their sins, some were full of petty jealousies because of
the grand clothes of their fellow-worshippers, or of pride for their
own; none heard the wailing spirit-voice, and Liuba, the saddest soul
in all that churchful of souls, went weeping upon her journey, ever
weeping and ever beseeching, but never obtaining that sweet gift for
which she longed with a longing that increased with each day and with
every disappointment.
Once, when she had wandered thus for months enough to make two whole
years, Liuba met with an adventure. Passing over the streets of a
large city she was surprised to hear a voice, which at first she took
for an echo of hers, for it spoke the same words, and the tone was
that of distress and entreaty, as sorrowful as her own. Then she saw
that the sound proceeded from a little form like hers, which slowly
and sadly winged its way through the dusky air, close above the roofs
of the human habitations below, and ever as it went it chanted its
melancholy refrain: "Christian men and women, hear my voice, and
baptize me ere it is too late, and my soulship is lost, lost!" Liuba
accosted the little wandering soul, which was, she found, sadder even
than herself because it had less of hope. This soul was that of a
little human boy who had died unbaptized nearly seven years ago. For
six long years and as many months it had wandered, entreating for
baptism and finding none that could hear its voice; now there remained
but a few months wherein to gain the blessed privilege, and hope had
grown faint and weak. Liuba's companion had been over the world, he
said, and over it a second time; but all in vain--none would hear him.
He had met many lost souls like himself, and all were sad and
disappointed; and for some, he knew, the term had expired and they had
fallen to the status of water-spirits. Some had taken the form of
cuckoos, and in the shape of that bird had wandered over the world
crying "cuckoo" instead of the usual entreaty for baptism, because
there are many, he said, upon the earth, who believe that each
unbaptized soul assumes the form and voice of this bird in order to be
seen and heard by Christian men. Those who believe thus are in the
habit of pronouncing the formula of baptism over each cuckoo whose
voice they hear, in the hope of thus saving some lost human soul.[2]
[2] This belief is far from uncommon.
"And are some saved in this way," asked Liuba.
"I have heard so from others," said the newcomer, "but I know not
whether it is true. For myself, I have been content to preserve my own
likeness and voice, for surely, surely some day, though the time is
now short, I shall yet be heard and saved!"
So Liuba and her companion journeyed together henceforth, and together
they chanted their monotonous song, which none of all the Christian
men and women they saw might hear: "Brothers, Christians, hear us and
baptize us, or our soulship is lost!"
Then there came a sad day when the elder wanderer knew that his time
for hoping was past, and that his soulship was indeed lost for ever.
By the bank of a lovely river he and Liuba parted, and Liuba wept
bitterly, and said: "Farewell, poor lost brother, in pity and love I
greet you a last time, and even as your lot is so shall mine be; for,
alas, there remain but a few more years!" But the other said, "Nay,
hope on, Liuba, for, perhaps, by the mercy of the Highest, you may yet
be saved." Then he drooped his wings and plunged beneath the waters,
and when the cool element touched him he forgot for ever that he had
belonged to a higher race of beings, and went among the river-spirits,
and was with them and of them, and knew of nothing better.
But Liuba wandered on and on, and wearied not of wrestling with
Christian men and women for that which they alone could give her if
they would. Once--a year from the end of her term--she passed through
a church in which prayers were continually offered for those who die
unbaptized, and in which the form of baptism is gone through annually
once for the benefit of these, in case one should be within hearing;
but the service was just finished as Liuba passed over the church, and
she was too late to hear those longed-for words which should give her
the priceless boon she desired. In another place she came where a
certain good man pronounced every morning and every evening the
baptismal formula, in case some poor wandering soul should be passing
within hearing and should hear and live. But though she saw him, she
knew not of his benevolent daily action, and passed on unaware;
neither did he hear her spirit-voice, for his soul was full of many
worldly matters, and when at evening he performed the pious rite which
was his daily custom, Liuba was far away.
And it happened that a few months before the expiration of her time,
Liuba passed once again by that stream where, on her first day of
wandering, she had seen the river-spirit; and now again, as she
rested upon the bank of the stream, that beautiful nymph-form rose,
glistening and undulating, from the waters, and waved her arms and
laughed and beckoned to Liuba, and said, "Aha! little lost soul, a few
more days or weeks and you are ours. We shall be kind to you, never
fear, and you shall dance and sport your time away instead of
wandering and whining over land and sea, and all for the sake of
something which may not be worth the finding! And you shall learn to
captivate the hated human beings who would not listen to your voice,
and you shall entice them down and strangle them--strangle them!" But
Liuba fled away in horror and dread, and would not listen to what the
_rusalka_ had to say. But her last few months were at hand, and the
poor wanderer toiled on, beseeching and entreating wherever she went,
and weeping and wailing more pitifully as hope receded further and
further.
* * * * *
Far away in the east of Europe there is a great city which is full of
large shops, and immense houses, and busy streets, and of rich and
poor, and of good and evil, as is every other large city everywhere.
It was Christmas eve, and the last hour of work had come for bank and
shop and factory. After this there should be holiday-time for all. The
factory hands poured in a great stream from the open doors of a
cotton-mill--pale men and women, happy enough in the prospect of a day
or two to be spent far away from the stuffiness and the heat and the
toil of the mill. All chatted and laughed and made plans, and told one
another of what they would do at Christmas and on Boxing Day. And many
went away to dance and to sing and enjoy themselves; and some went to
the inns and public-houses, and were rowdily happy in their own way;
and many went to the brilliant shops and bought materials for their
Christmas dinner or presents for their friends. And one man of all the
crowd did not join those who were bent on merrymaking. Yet he, too,
was full of plans of happiness for the season. He was not rich, this
man, but he spent little, and the wages of the factory were good; and
each year he contrived to save a sum of money in preparation for that
which he had in his mind for Christmas time. He had brought his
savings with him this evening--a fair sum for a man in his
position--and with the money he proceeded from shop to shop, buying
here a pot of sweet flowers, there a book, here a doll, and there a
toy, until his large basket was full and as heavy as he could carry.
Then he went to the children's hospital, where for seven years his
kind face had been well known; and here he was received with
acclamation by the little suffering inmates, for they knew well the
meaning of his appearance in company with the basket; and there were
some who had been in that building, alas! for years, and had learned
to consider the visit of this man and his basket as an established
thing, as certain and as regular as Christmas itself. Many little
hearts beat higher with joy when Paul Shirkof's round was finished and
the basket was empty, and Paul's own heart was joyful and happy indeed
as he returned to his home that night and knelt to say his Christmas
prayer. His was no conventional prayer, nor did he pray in the words
of any formula; but he thought of the Christ-child born as on this
night in its helplessness and innocence, and he prayed for simplicity
and for innocence, that his heart might be as the heart of a child,
and his spirit pure, so that he might discern God in all His works.
And even as he prayed there was borne in upon him--though he could see
nothing--as the sound of the voice of a tiny child, and it
said--entreating and wailing--"Oh, Christian man, pity me; hear my
voice--and baptize me, or my soulship is lost!"
And a great fear fell upon the man, so that he could scarcely frame
words to ask:
"Who are you that address me?" Then the answer came: "An unbaptized
soul--Liuba; baptize me before it is too late, and save me!"
And the man delayed no longer, but made the sign of the Cross and
said, "I baptize thee in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Ghost, Amen." Then at the words the soul of Liuba rejoiced
with a great joy, and departed, whither I know not; but this is
certain, that it wandered no longer wailing over land and sea, for it
was henceforth at rest for ever, and, by Divine mercy, in possession
of that sweet privilege which for a while had been lost to it.
And the father knew not that he had baptized his own child's soul; but
he shall know it one day, perhaps, when those who are pure in spirit
shall see God.