THE NATIONAL DANCE
When Jonitza awoke he found black coffee and delicious white twists
awaiting him. He dressed quickly that he might be in time for the
hearty breakfast that follows. It was a holiday, and so later he had
a ride behind four horses abreast with his father, first along the
sluggish Dimbovitza River on which Bukurest is situated, then into
the hills to an old three-towered Cathedral, one of the very few
antiquities to be seen in Bukurest. From here the city looked very
attractive with its metal plated steeples and cupolas, its many squares
and tree-lined avenues.
Then the horses carried them still further away to a neighboring hamlet
with its pretty rustic vine-embowered houses, their dark roofs forming
verandas on which clay benches invited one to rest. Peasant women
drawing water from wells by the wayside greeted them; children tending
geese and pigs smiled at them, and a man building a wattled fence
invited them into his little country house all blue and white.
When they reached home and had had luncheon, Jonitza found that the
whole family but himself had been invited to some entertainment and
that he was to be left with Maritza and the servants.
He had begun to yawn and to wonder how he would spend the day, when
Maritza solved the problem for him.
"Your mother said that I might take you to see the _Hora_ danced," she
announced. The _Hora_ is the Roumanian national dance.
"Oh, good!" cried Jonitza, throwing a book that he was holding up to
the ceiling and catching it again.
Soon after, Maritza's brother came for his sister. He was a rather
tall, dark-eyed man and dressed in spotless white linen trousers with a
ruffle around the ankles and deep pointed pockets in front, embroidered
in red. To be sure to be on time they started at once, Maritza
laughingly repeating that they "must dance on Sunday to keep the creak
out of their bones on Monday."
A half hour's walk brought them to a modest section of Bukurest, where,
in a square opposite a tavern, a host of peasant men and women in their
gayest costumes, were already gathered. Knowing how eager Maritza was
to dance, Jonitza urged her to leave him on the lawn. "I shall be all
right here under the trees," he said.
When she consented, he threw himself down to watch. Soon gypsy
musicians seated themselves on a platform at one edge of the square
and began to play. At once men and maidens clasped hands and began a
swaying motion to words improvised by certain of the youths who were in
charge of the dance for the day.
Others joined; the ring grew gigantic and then suddenly broke into
two, each part with its set of leaders, while a shout of pleasurable
excitement rent the air.
Jonitza enjoyed it all for quite a while and then began to yawn.
As he turned to see if he could find anything else of interest his
glance fell on a boy seated some distance away under a huge lime-tree.
Something about this boy made Jonitza sit upright. Suddenly he leaped
to his feet, ran wildly forward, and put his hands over the other boy's
eyes.
"Guess," he said in a muffled voice.
In answer the other boy jumped up, over-throwing Jonitza as he did so.
It was Nicolaia.
For a moment both boys showed considerable emotion. "When did you come?
Are you going to stay in Bukurest? Where do you live?" were some of the
questions that Jonitza hurled at his companion.
Nicolaia did his best to answer. "I came yesterday," he said, "to begin
my apprenticeship with my uncle. Since to-day is Friday and a holiday,
Uncle says that I am not to begin work till Monday. He wants me to see
a little of the city first."
"Hurrah!" shouted Jonitza, throwing up his cap. "Where are you going
to-morrow?"
"In the morning I'm going to go to market with Auntie, so as to know
how to buy. I'm to live with them and shall have to do all sorts of odd
jobs at times."
Jonitza grew thoughtful. "I'll try to see you there," he said after a
pause. "Mother won't let me go alone anywhere here. I'm such a lovely
child"--here he grinned--"she thinks some one might steal me. But
perhaps I can go with one of the house servants or with Maritza."
"I'll look for you," said Nicolaia solemnly. Then he added: "I was
so tired of watching the old dance that I was amusing myself playing
_Arshitza_." Here he stooped to pick up a sheep bone shaped like the
figure eight, and some bits of lead.
"What fun we used to have playing that at your house," said Jonitza
with something like a sigh. "Let's play it now." Nicolaia nodded and
they settled down for a quiet time by themselves, each trying in turn
to snap as many of the lead pieces as possible into the rings.
Later they sharpened a few sticks that they found and played another
game called _Tzurka_, not unlike our game of _Cat_. Then they lay down
side by side on the grass and talked.
All this time the music, singing, and dancing went on, as if none
of those taking part in it knew what it was to get tired. It was
only with the setting of the sun that it came to a stop. Neither of
the boys would have known it, however, so absorbed were they in a
deep discussion, had not Maritza found them. As she shook hands with
Nicolaia and looked at Jonitza's animated face she roguishly asked,
"Did you like the dance?"
"Why--yes--" responded Jonitza quite unconscious of the twinkle in
her eyes. "It was splendid, wasn't it, Nicolaia? I wish it could have
lasted longer!"