"I HOLD FAST TO BABETTE."
"Here is what you demanded!" said Rudy, entering the miller's house at
Bex; and, setting on the floor a large basket, he took off the cloth,
and there glared from it two yellow, black-rimmed eyes, so sparkling,
so wild, that they seemed to burn and devour everything they saw; the
short, strong beak gaped, ready to bite, the neck was red and downy.
"The eaglet!" shouted the miller. Babette gave one scream, and sprang
aside, but she could not turn her eyes away from Rudy or the eaglet.
"You are not to be frightened!" said the miller.
"And you always keep your word!" said Rudy; "each has his own
characteristic!"
"But how is it you did not break your neck?" inquired the miller.
"Because I held fast!" answered Rudy, "and that I do still! I hold
fast to Babette!"
"First see that you have her!" said the miller with a laugh; and that
was a good sign, Babette knew.
"Let us get the eaglet out of the basket; it looks dangerous. How it
stares! How did you catch it?"
And Rudy had to tell them, and the miller stared, opening his eyes
wider and wider.
"With your boldness and luck you can maintain three wives!" said the
miller.
"Thank you! thank you!" cried Rudy.
"Yes; still you have not got Babette!" said the miller, and jestingly
slapped the young hunter on the shoulder.
"Have you heard the news in the mill?" said the parlor cat to the
kitchen cat. "Rudy has brought us the eaglet, and will take Babette in
exchange. They have kissed each other and let father see it! That is
as good as an engagement. The old man didn't kick; he drew in his
claws, and took his nap after dinner, and let the two sit and wag
their tails. They have so much to say, they won't be finished before
Christmas."
Nor had they finished before Christmas. The wind scattered the brown
leaves, the snow drifted in the valley and on the high mountains. The
Ice-Maiden sat in her noble palace, which grows in the winter; the
rocky walls were coated with ice, there were icicles ponderous as
elephants where in the summer the mountain-torrent poured its watery
deluge; ice-garlands of fantastic ice-crystals glittered on the
snow-powdered fir-trees. The Ice-Maiden rode on the whistling wind
across the deepest valleys. The snow carpet was spread quite down to
Bex, and she could come there and see Rudy within doors, more than he
was accustomed to, for he sat with Babette. The marriage was to take
place towards the summer; he often had a ringing in his ears, so
frequently did his friends talk of it. There was summer, glowing with
the most beautiful Alpine roses, the merry, laughing Babette,
beautiful as spring, the spring that makes all the birds sing of
summer and of weddings.
[Illustration: Rudy and Babette.]
"How can those two sit and hang over each other?" said the parlor cat.
"I am now quite tired of their mewing!"