After the surging to and fro of the men pressing forward into the
circle, the loud voices, and the clank of weapons had somewhat died
away, the Duke raised his spear and struck with it three solemn strokes
on the bronze shield. Instantly deep silence reigned. "The assembly is
opened!" said Hariowald, and slowly took his seat, crossing one foot
over the other.
Throwing back the long, full, dark-blue mantle, fastened by a clasp on
the left shoulder, he rested his spear like a staff on his right
shoulder, and raising his left hand with the fingers extended, said
slowly:
"I, the Judge, I ask you for the law!
I ask you, ye free men:
Is this the hour and the place,
To have and to hold
A judgment righteous
Upon noble Alemanni,
The sons of victory--
House and estate.
Cattle and chattels,
Money and lands,
Peace and liberty,
Body and life?
Point out, ye men of knowledge,
The law to the Judge."
Two elderly men stepped forward, drew their swords, raised them toward
heaven, and said with long pauses, the words of one always blending
with those of the other:
"We will point out, as we know it,
To thee, Judge, the law:
This is the hour and the place
For judgment righteous:
On the conquered and inherited
Ancient soil of the Alemanni,
By the all-conquering sun's
Clear, shining, ascending,
Radiant light,
Beneath the ancient
Ash of our fathers,
In Odin's temple,
On cattle and chattels,
Money and lands,
Peace and liberty,
Body and life,
Justly we judge
And find, we free men,
Sentence righteous."
Both withdrew into the circle.
"Before we march forth to the battle against the foe," the Duke now
broke the silence, "and we shall set out soon, very soon--"
Loud shouts of joy and rattling of weapons burst forth, which the old
noble allowed to die away; then he continued:
"The popular assembly must first pronounce judgment and decide
questions of justice and law. First on Fiskulf, the fisherman, from
Rohr-Mos, the rush marshes. Where is the accuser?"
Adalo stepped forward hesitatingly.
"Here: I, Adalo, son of Adalger."
"Step to the right. Where is the defendant?"
"Here!" said a man in plain garments; he wore an old fishing net for a
girdle. With head bent sorrowfully he came forward, lowering his eyes.
"What is your complaint?" asked the judge.
"Breaking the oath of military duty."
"That is a matter of life and death. Tell me the law: may Adalo, son of
Adalger, make such a charge here?"
One of the two old men stepped forward again, and said:
"The assembly knows Adalo, the Adeling, as a free man of unblemished
reputation: his estate is in the Linzgau: it would cover any charge of
false accusation: he may make complaint in a matter of life and death."
At a sign from the judge the young noble began:
"I make the complaint reluctantly,--against my wish and will,--but my
oath requires it. For when I took command of the men of the western
shore of the lake, I was obliged to swear on the Duke's hand to
denounce before the assembly any breach of his orders that might occur
in my troop. So speak I must, for I fear to break the oath. You all
know that the Duke forbade, on pain of death, the lighting of a fire by
day or night in any of the boats where the fugitives from the country
at first lay concealed among the rushes on the western shore: if the
Romans, while passing, discovered by smoke or flame that there were
people living in the wide marshy forests, all who were hidden there
might be lost. When I set out, I repeated the Duke's command to all my
men; Fiskulf was standing on my shield side. And yet, while the foe was
passing along the shore he lighted a fire on the Pike Stone which rises
above the reeds. True, it was daylight, but the smoke was visible. The
nearest cohort had halted and was preparing to look for the fire, which
I with difficulty put out in time to lull their suspicions. I must now
accuse Fiskulf of this breach of orders."
He paused and drew back a step. A murmur of indignation ran through the
ranks, blended with many a loud cry of anger and reproach.
"Silence, all! Silence in the circle, until I ask your judgment,"
shouted the Duke from his lofty stone seat, raising his spear aloft. "I
forbid reproaches; I command peace. You, Fiskulf, what say you to the
charge? Denial, or confession?"
"Confession," replied the fisherman sorrowfully. "It is as the Adeling
said."
"You knew the command?"
"I knew it."
"You broke the command?"
"I broke it. Alas, I am so deeply ashamed. It was from hunger--but not
to satisfy my own. We had lain hidden in the marshland forest for many
nights; the stock of dried fish I had brought in the boat was
exhausted. I repressed my hunger and chewed the tops of the young
reeds. I would not have done it for myself; but my boy, who was with me
(he had just recovered from the fever that lurks in the swamps, and he
is only seven years old), cried so bitterly with hunger, begging and
pleading: 'Father, father, give me something to eat!' It cut me to the
heart! I speared a large pike that was sunning itself near the stone,
cut it in pieces, and meant to give it to the child to eat. But
loathing choked him: he only cried quietly and no longer entreated me.
Then I rubbed two dry sticks together till I kindled a fire, broiled
the fish on the top of the stone, and gave it to the boy to eat. I ate
some myself, too."
"I was forced to accuse him," said Adalo. "But I entreat the assembly
not to punish the man. No harm came from his act. A father--"
"Silence, Accuser," the judge interrupted. "You have made the
complaint; he has confessed: you have nothing more to do here except to
listen to the sentence. I ask: what may follow breaking an order given
to the troops when the enemy is in the country? What? You are silent?
The disobedience might destroy the whole nation. What? You refuse to
point out the law," the old man went on indignantly. "Or do you
gray-beards no longer know what the boys learn? Answer! Point out the
law,--" he rose threateningly,--"or I will tear the shield of the
assembly from the ash and complain to the gods: The Alemanni have
forgotten the laws of their people! What is the punishment of treason
and breaking the oath of service?"
"Death!" now rang forth in many voices.
"I knew it," said the fisherman quietly. "Farewell, countrymen. I wish
you victory and prosperity."
But the Duke continued:
"What death must he die? By the willow-withe? By water? By the red
stroke of the knife? Or by the red flame of burning branches?"
One of the two old men stepped forward again, saying: "By his deed he
has offended Zio the war-god and Odin the giver of victory. Zio demands
blood upon the stone of sacrifice; Odin's will is that he shall blow in
the wind. Odin is the greater god and the father of Zio: the lesser
yields to the greater; the son to the father. Odin's right is first:
the oath-breaker is consecrated to Odin, He shall be hung by willow
ropes under the chin, with his face toward the north, from the withered
yew, a wolf at his right hand and a wolf at his left--the oldest
symbols of quarrelsome, reckless lawbreakers."
"He is consecrated to Odin," the judge repeated solemnly--"if Odin
desires him. We will ask the god."
All gazed in astonishment, the fisherman with a faint thrill of hope,
at the old man, who now continued:
"It is dishonorable and shameful for the man to swing among the
branches, between the sky and the mountain top. And hitherto he has
been brave--only he could not be strong enough to bear the weeping of
his child. He will die useless to his people, if he hang high aloft on
the tree. Well then, we will ask Odin if, perchance, he will forgive
him. You all, like the accuser himself, at first wished to let the act
pass unpunished. That will not do. To the Lofty One we must offer his
right; but--perhaps--he will not take it. I advise that Fiskulf shall
venture upon a deed in which, for his people's welfare, he will fall,
inevitably fall, unless Odin himself take pity on him and bear him away
in his floating mantle."
"Speak, speak! What may I do?" cried the fisherman, with sparkling
eyes. "All! All! Gladly will I die by the spear. Only not the rope of
shame!"
"You shall be the first, in advance of all the others, to leap on the
proudest Roman galley and--you understand how to kindle flames so
well--set fire to its sails."
"Yes, yes! That he shall! Hail to the Duke!" shouted thousands of
voices.
Fiskulf sprang forward to the judge's chair, lifted both hands to him,
and cried: "I thank thee, Duke! Ay, thou knowest the will of Odin! The
proudest Roman galley--the General's vessel in Arbor, is it not? Well:
I do not yet know how I am to reach the ship on the other side of the
lake; but I will die, or accomplish it."
"I will provide for that," said the Duke. "You need not go to the ship:
Odin will bring the galley to you! Then do as I have told you."
"Gladly! Gladly! Oh, give me back my weapons!"
At a sign from the judge the heralds restored to him the spear and
shield marked _F_, which lay on the stone steps, and he returned to the
circle of his comrades, many of whom clasped his hand.