How the Lady Bertha sailed from Carthagena.
Now this fairy legend, that we have told in plain prose, was sung
by Nurreddin in pleasant, well-sounding verses; and Bertha listened
thereto with so much pleasure, that the emir repeated it to her
many times thereafter, and it seemed as if his own heart was always
strangely moved by the recital. Then it came to pass, that she begged
him to explain who was in reality the far-famed Hygies, and if he did
not know more of this warrior than the song had unfolded?--“Somewhat,”
answered the emir, “but not much;--all that I know is,--that he came
from foreign countries to Greece; that he was a youth everywhere beheld
with fear and wonder; but I could never prove whether his name were
properly Hygies, or if this were not a title bestowed on him in Crete,
for in the Hellenic tongue it imports, that he was lively, active, and
jocose.”--After such answers, it happened for the most part that he
would speak no more, and that a deep shade of discontent came over his
dark frowning brows.
One evening Bertha sat with the emir on a lofty balcony, whence she
commanded a beautiful prospect across the orange-groves towards the
sea, her mind filled with pleasant remembrances of home. A cooling
east wind played over the water, and rustled through the orange-trees,
bearing sometimes leaves from their branches, and wafting them up to
the damsel. “How,” said she, “if this wind, with its rustling leaves,
came from the enchanter’s island, or from Damascus, and could bring me
news what has become of the brave knight Hygies, and his infant son?”
“Nay,” answered the emir, “How comes it, that you have never inquired
of me what was the fate of the poor child?”
“I know not wherefore I was silent,” said Bertha, “my heart always
longed to hear more of him, and yet, when I was about to speak,
methought as if by invisible hands a seal was imprinted on my lips, and
I could not utter a word.”
“That is indeed strange,” said the emir, “for I have felt always
impelled to tell you more of that child and his fortunes, but the fear
withheld me, that you would look on him, who was thus born in the
enchanter’s cave and in the wild island, with aversion and terror.
Know, then, that I myself am the son of the brave Hygies.”
Bertha gazed at him with wonder, and at length said, “Why then should
I be afraid of you, because you are the son of that renowned hero and
the beautiful lady of Damascus? Rather should I expect to find in you
a star of honour and courtesy, in whom I could confidently trust.”
“A comet, rather you should have said,” answered Nurreddin, “or a
destructive thunderbolt, terrifying the nations, and destroying many
in its course; yet to future generations announcing happiness and
prosperity.”
“The nations must be very base,” said Bertha gravely, “if they look for
aid to a single champion, and not from their own strength.”
“Even to prevent them from becoming thus depraved,” said Nurreddin,
“have I been sent into the world. I must kindle the fire and fan the
flames; the fire of trial and purification, whereby many a peaceful
roof will be overthrown, and many a blooming land laid waste, in order
that, thereafter, all may be established better than heretofore.
Believe me, noble lady, the nations of the earth may well be compared
to the phœnix, and from time to time must be consumed by fire, that,
arising from their ashes, they may prove their immortality and
everlasting strength.”
“I believe you are now led astray by a fearful delusion,” said Bertha;
“but Heaven will, according to his divine wisdom, set you free from
this temptation; and as for the destructive fires with which you now
threaten the people, Providence will no doubt interfere for their
protection.”
“Ere long it shall be proved how that may be,” answered the emir;
“to-morrow we are to set out with my fleet of galleys towards Ostia.
There we shall cast anchor; and this is the voyage of which I have
before spoken, and on which you must go with me before I am at liberty
to attend you on your journey homewards. Rome is but feebly defended;
and if I should succeed in burying the triple-crowned priest under
the ruins of his own churches, the whole mouldering fabric of the
system, called Christianity, would at once be tumbled down, along with
its key-stone, to the ground. Especially, I have the better chance
to succeed in this undertaking, because the light and mirror of your
Christian knighthood, the brave King Richard, is now held in prison by
his own friends and comrades in the field, who should have protected
him, if need were, from all such insult.”
Thereafter a pleasant smile stole over Bertha’s features; nay, she
looked so contented and child-like in her happiness, that one might
have rather said that she laughed; whereupon the emir rose from his
place on the veranda, walked up and down, and said, “Fair and beautiful
as thou art, how can’st thou jest over what I have now said? My hopes
and courage, nay my very life, had been renewed in thy presence; for
I believed that every thought and feeling of my soul was by thee
sympathized with and understood; and, though according to the manner of
timid damsels, thou perchance might be afraid of my over vehemence and
zeal, yet thou could’st still admire the greatness of my undertakings,
and feel thereby inspired and enraptured. Now, however, when I have
uttered before thee those things of which I had never till now spoken
but in my secret prayers to God and our holy prophet, all the return I
meet with is but in childish laughter! not even hast thou trembled at
thoughts of the fearful and irresistible dangers which my voyage will
bring on thy cherished faith and all its adherents.”
“Could my faith then be sincere,” answered Bertha, with the same
unconcerned smile, “if I thought that our religion could be overcome by
thy endeavours? The true faith may never die; Heaven will soon supply
means for the defence of Rome; and I am heartily glad that you will
take me with you to Ostia, and that I may be a wondering spectator by
what agent Providence shall repulse your proud and warlike attacks. It
may be an avenging spirit with a flaming sword, or a seraph smiling on
you in peace and forgiveness; and, Heaven knows, it is my earnest hope
that the peace-angel may come to meet you.”
At these words, Nurreddin bowed lowly and respectfully, saying,
“Forgive me, if I misunderstood your smiles; for it is not my fault if
you are far better fitted to excite or display heroic energies than to
look for and admire them in others.”
Bertha stretched out her hand kindly to the emir, and answered, “Good
night, brave and adventurous son of the renowned Hygies. We must
meet early to-morrow, and be prepared for our journey.” “Ay, truly,”
answered Nurreddin; “but I pray you, do not call me as you now did,
the son of Hygies; for though I respect his memory who was ennobled by
such brave exploits, yet the reflection, that he neither brought me to
my mother’s parents, the king and queen at Damascus, nor to his own
home, which remains still unknown, but that I was left amid the wild
wandering Arabs to be educated as chance might direct;--these thoughts,
noble lady, are indeed bitter and painful to my heart; and I am tempted
to think, that though he might well merit his prize of the Damascus
sword, yet he was not deserving of the tender rose-tree, nor the
rose-like maiden.” With these words he bowed respectfully, and left
the veranda.
On the following morning the ships of Nurreddin, with their brazen
beaks and silken streamers, were gleaming in the sun, while the light
breezes gently played amid their snow-white sails. Through a shadowy
walk of the garden, Bertha now came with her extraordinary protector
from the palace towards the sea-shore. As they drew near the gate,
there was heard from the thickets the gentle sound of a harp; and
ere long, words too blended with its notes, and Bertha could not but
listen; for the words were French, and reminded her of past and happy
days. The voice and music were tremulous and mournful; and the minstrel
deplored that he could no longer praise the beauties of the ocean-waves
dancing in the sunshine, the blooming woods and fragrant breezes of the
morning; for now the fairest of flowers, the damsel that had adorned
these woods, was borne far away; and he could only weep, or faintly
sing to his harp, the lamentations of a lonely and despairing lover.
Then it seemed, after this beginning, as if his voice died away in his
grief and sadness, and only low broken notes of his harp were still
heard from amid the shadowy coverts.
Bertha had involuntarily stood still to listen; and the emir, anxious
to fulfil every wish of hers, stopped also, and made a signal that the
slaves who followed them should not move. When the song had thus died
away, and Bertha looked anxiously round for the minstrel, Nurreddin
stepped hastily on through the portal, and, with his eagle-eyes, soon
found out the disconsolate youth with his harp, made a sign that he
should come nearer; and thereafter brought him before the lady, who, to
her great joy, recognised at once the minstrel, Aleard.
Kindly and anxiously then she inquired what had led him to that foreign
land, and whether it might possibly be in her power to lessen that
grief by which he now seemed oppressed. The youth wished to answer;
but, with a mistrustful side-look at Nurreddin, he remained silent.
“Speak freely,” said Bertha; “whatever a noble-minded minstrel can have
to say may surely be uttered in the presence of this valiant hero.”
Thereafter Aleard related, without hesitation, how he had come hither
to rescue Blanchefleur; but that, after seeing the fate of her brother,
Sir Folko, his wrath against the Count Vinciguerra and the merchant,
Theobaldo, was so great, that he resolved no longer to hold any
intercourse with them, and past the night, after the seeming death of
the chevalier, in contriving how he might alone and by stratagem effect
her deliverance. Not till next morning did he hear of the knight’s
miraculous restoration, and the escape of both the ladies; “and now,”
said he, “I am here disconsolate and alone, wandering amid people who
move round me like apparitions in a mirror, or listening to sounds that
find no echo in my heart. My harp indeed is left to me, and is my
only companion. By that means, if I visit the houses of rich Moorish
knights, I am able to live, without submitting to ignoble or wearisome
toil, and by night, or early in the morning, can call back in sunny
dreams the pleasures of the past. I had indeed resolved to wear away
my life on this foreign shore; but when your beauty, which I had often
beheld in the presence of Blanchefleur, again dawned on my sight, the
ardent longing for home once more awoke painfully and anxiously in my
heart. Therefore it is true, that I now wished to draw your attention
to my sorrows; for I find that you are prepared for your voyage hence.
If it were possible that I might go with you again into a Christian
land, so the light of a new morning would gleam forth on the darkness
of my fate; if this may not be, yet the sight of you now departing is
at least like the last rays of the setting sun, and the night will all
the sooner come to shed her veil over my sorrows.” “Nay, if it be the
will of Heaven,” said Bertha, “I shall prove to you, like the early
morning red, the harbinger of light and joy. This valiant champion will
not, methinks, disapprove what I have proposed.” Hereupon the emir
kindly took the minstrel’s hand, and said, “Whatsoever the Lady Bertha
only wishes may be looked on as fulfilled, if it be in the power of
Nurreddin to render her assistance. Moreover your art is dear to me
for its own sake; for we Arabians are lovers of music and of song, and
the fairy legends of olden time.” So discoursing pleasantly with each
other, they all three came down upon the shore, now sweetly illuminated
by the red morning gleams. There they embarked, and directly the
mariners set sail, and the vessels moved proudly out of the harbour.