XXIII. Of Toon the Silent.

On the eighth day, the Silent went wolf-hunting.

Following a certain beast he rode into the domain of Halewyn.

And at vespers the lady Gonde, leaving the great hall to go to the

kitchen for the ordering of supper, on opening the door saw Toon before

her. He seemed loth to come in, and hung his head as if with shame.

The lady Gonde, going to him, said: "My son, why do you not come into

the hall to bid good evening to the lord your father?"

The Silent, without answering, went into the hall, and muttering

short and sullen words by way of salutation, went to sit in the

darkest corner.

And the lady Gonde said to Sir Roel: "Our son is angry at something,

I think, since he goes off into a dark corner far away from us,

against his habit."

Sir Roel said to the Silent: "Son, come hither to the light that we

may see thy face."

He obeyed, and Sir Roel, the lady Gonde, and the sorrowing Magtelt

saw that he was bleeding from the head and from the neck, and cast

down his eyes, not daring to look them in the face.

The lady Gonde cried out with fright on seeing the blood, and Magtelt

came to him, and Sir Roel said: "Who has given my son this shamed

countenance, this downcast heart, and these wounds in his body?"

Flemish Legends · 第 36 / 67 题