Produced by Catherine B. Krusberg
THE POBRATIM
A SLAV NOVEL
BY
PROF. P. JONES
LONDON
H. S. NICHOLS
3 SOHO SQUARE and 62A PICCADILLY W
MDCCCXCV
[_All Rights Reserved._]
_Printed and Published by_
H. S. NICHOLS
AT 3, SOHO SQUARE, LONDON, W
TO
HIS HIGHNESS
PRINCE NICHOLAS OF MONTENEGRO
THIS BOOK IS HUMBLY DEDICATED.
P. JONES
TRIESTE,
17_th June_, 1895.
CONTENTS
ST. JOHN'S EVE
THE BOND OF FRIENDSHIP
CHRISTMAS EVE
NEW YEAR'S DAY
DUCK SHOOTING AT NONA
THE BULLIN-MOST
SEXAGESIMA
MURDER
THE HAYDUK
PRINCE MATHIAS
MANSLAUGHTER
MARGARET OF LOPUD
STARIGRAD
THE "KARVARINA"
A COWARD'S VENGEANCE
THE VAMPIRE
THE FACE IN THE MIRROR
THE CONVENT OF ST. GEORGE
THE "KARVA TAJSTVO"
"SPERA IN DIO"
FLIGHT
THE "GIUSTIZIA DI DIO"
THE WEDDING
POBRATIM
CHAPTER I
ST. JOHN'S EVE
There was quite a bustle at Budua, because Janko Markovic and Milos
Bellacic had just come back from Cattaro that very morning, and--what
was really surprising--they were both getting shaved.
Now, it has always been a most uncommon occurrence amongst us for a
man to get shaved on a Friday.
Mind, I do not mean to say that I consider this operation as being in
any way unlucky if performed on that day. We, of course, cut our hair
during the new moon; but there is no special time for shaving.
Cutting one's nails on a Saturday brings on illnesses, as we all
know; and I, without being superstitious, can name you lots of people
who fell ill simply out of disregard to the wisdom of their elders.
Nay, I myself once suffered a dreadful toothache for having
thoughtlessly pared my nails on the last Saturday of the year.
Shaving on Saturday, however, cannot be considered as harmful
either to the body or to the soul. Still, as we all go to the
barber's once a week, on Sunday morning, it has hitherto been
regarded as part of our dominical duties.
There was, therefore, some particular reason that made these
prominent citizens shave on a Friday; could the reason be another
change in the Government?
Quite a little crowd had gathered, by ones and by twos, round the
hairdresser's shop; some were standing, others sitting, some smoking,
others eating dried melon seeds--all were gravely looking at the
barber, who was holding Bellacic by the tip of his nose and was
scraping his cheek with a razor which kept making a sharp, stridulous
noise as it cut down the crisp, wiry stubble hair of almost a week's
growth. Then the shaver left the nose, for, as a tuft of hair in a
hollow spot under the cheek-bone was renitent to the steel blade, he
poked his thumb in his customer's mouth, swelled out the sunken spot
and cleaned it beautifully. He was a real artist, who took a pride in
doing his work neatly. He then wiped the ends on his finger, cast the
soap to the ground with a jerk and a snap, then he rubbed his hand on
the head of an urchin standing by.
The barber, who was as inquisitive and as loquacious as all the
Figaros of larger towns, had tried craftily and with many an ambage
to get at the information we were all so anxious to know; but
nothing seemed to induce our clients to speak.
"I suppose," said he, with a pleasant smile, "I'll soon have new
customers to shave?"
"Yes? Who?" quoth Markovic.
"Why, your sons, Uros and Milenko."
"No, not yet; they'll not be back before some months."
All conjectures and guesses, all suppositions and surmises were at
last at an end. The barber, although he had been a long time about
it, had finished shaving Bellacic; Markovic was now sitting down with
the towel tied round his neck.
"This afternoon we start for Cettinje," said Bellacic, wiping himself.
An "Ah!" of satisfaction and expectation was followed by a moment
of breathless silence. The barber stopped soaping his client's face
and turned to look at Bellacic.
"On a diplomatic mission, of course?" he asked, in a hollow whisper.
"On a diplomatic mission."
"To the Vladika, eh?"
Everyone looked significantly at his neighbor, some twisted their
long moustaches, others instinctively lifted their hands to the hafts
of their knives. They all seemed to say: "It is what we have been
suspecting from the very beginning. Montenegro will take back Cattaro
and Budua." Thereupon every face brightened.
It was natural to surmise such a thing in those times, inasmuch as in
the course of a few years we had been shifting from hand to hand. The
French had taken us from the Venetians; then we became Russians; the
English drove the Cossacks away, and gave us over to the Austrians,
our present masters.
"Of course, nobody goes to Cettinje without doing homage to the
Vladika. Still, our mission is not to the Prince."
We all looked at Bellacic and at Markovic in blank astonishment.
"You might as well tell them," said one of the friends to the other.
"Besides, it is a thing that all the town will know in a few days."
"Well," quoth Markovic, "our mission is not a political one. We are
deputed by Radonic----"
"By Radonic?" interrupted the shaver. "But he is not in Budua."
"No, he is at Perasto with his ship. We saw him at Cattaro."
"Well?"
"And he is going to get married."
"Married?"
"But he is too old," said a youth, without thinking.
"We have only the age we look," retorted an elderly man, snappishly.
"Well, but Radonic looks old," answered the young man.
"But to whom is he going to be married?"
"To Milena."
"What! Milena Zwillievic?"
"Exactly; to the prettiest girl of Montenegro!"
Many a young face fell, more than one brow grew cloudy, and a bright
eye got dim.
"It is an impossible marriage," said someone.
"A rich husband, a horned bull," quoth another.
"But he is much older than she is."
"We marry our sons when we like, and our daughters when we can,"
added Figaro, sententiously.
"Still, how could Zwillievic consent to take for his son-in-law a
man as old as himself?"
"A hero of the _Kolo_."
"And yet Zwillievic is a man with a gold head, a wise man."
"Yes, but he has also gold hands," replied Markovic.
"He did not follow the proverb--" added Bellacic, "'Consult your
purse, then buy.' His passion for arms ruined him; debts must be
paid."
"We were once on board the same ship with Radonic," said one of the
friends; "so he asked me to be the _Stari-Svat_."
"And I," added the other, "as Zwillievic is a kinsman of mine, I
must be _voivoda_."
"Ah, poor Milena! the year will be a black one to her."
"After all, she'll henceforth be able to sit in flour."
"And we all have our Black Fridays."
By this time Markovic had been shaved, the two friends wended their
way homewards, and the crowd dispersed.
"And now," you evidently ask, "who is this Milos Bellacic and his
friend, Janko Markovic?"
Two well-to-do citizens of Budua, the last of all Austrian towns, two
_gospodje_, but, unlike most of the Buduans and the other Dalmatians,
they were real Iugo-Slavs, Illyrians of the great Serbian stock.
As children they had clung to one another on account of the
friendship that existed between their fathers; as they grew older
this feeling, of almost kinship, was strengthened by the many trials
they had to undergo in common, for Fate seemed to have spun their
lives out of the selfsame yarn. At fourteen they had left home, on a
schooner bound for distant coasts; later, they got shipwrecked, and
swam--or rather they were washed--ashore, clinging to the same plank.
Thus they suffered cold, hunger, "the whips and scorns of time"
together.
From America, where they had been cast by the waves, they worked their
way to Trieste, hoping from thence to return to their native place,
ever dear to their hearts. This ill wind, so fatal, not only to the
ship, but to the remainder of the crew, proved to be the young men's
fortune. Trieste was, at the time, in the very beginning of its
mushroom growth, before that host of adventurers had flocked thither
from every part of the world with the hopes of making money.
It is not to be wondered that, after the hard life these young men
had undergone, they understood the full strength of the Italian
proverb--"Praise the sea, but keep to the shore." Sober and
hard-working as they were, they made up their minds to try and
acquire by trade what they could hardly get by a rough seafaring
life--their daily bread and a little money for their old age.
Strongly built, they started life as porters. Like beasts of burden,
they were harnessed to a cart the whole of the long summer days, or
else they helped to unload the ships that came in port.
Having managed to scrape a little money together, they began to trade
on their own account. They imported from Dalmatia, wine, sardines,
carobs, and _castradina_, or smoked mutton; they exported cotton
goods. They got to be shareholders, and then owners, of a bark, a
_trabacolo_. The times were good; there was, as yet, little or no
competition; therefore money begot money, and, though they could
neither read nor write, still they soon found themselves the owners
of a sum of money which--to them--was unlimited wealth. Had they
remained in Trieste, they might have got to be millionaires, but
they loved their birthplace even more than they did riches.
Once again in Budua, they added a good many acres of vineyards and of
olive-trees to their paternal farms, and, from that time, they lived
there in all the contentment this world can afford. They married,
but, strange to say, they were not blessed with many children; each
of them had only one son. Janko's son was, after his friend, named
Milenko; the other infant was christened Uros.
These two children are the _pobratim_ of our story.
"But what is the meaning of this strange word?" you ask.
Have but a little patience, and it will be explained to you in due
time.
Uros and Milenko had inherited with their blood that friendship
which had bound their fathers and forefathers before them. As
children, they belonged to either mother, and they often slept
together in the same trough-like cradle scooped out of the trunk
of a tree; they ate out of the same _zdila_--the huge wooden
porringer which served the family as table dish and plates; they
drank out of the same _bukara_, or wooden bottle, for, being rich
and having vineyards of their own, wine was never wanting at their
meals.
At fourteen they, like their fathers, went off to sea, for lads must
know something of the world. Happily, however, they both came back to
Budua after a cruise of some months. Though they met with many
squalls, still they never came to any grief.
As a rule they staid away cruising about the Adriatic and the Levant
from November to the month of August; but when the harvest-time drew
nigh, they returned home, where hands were wanted to reap and garner
such fruits as the rich soil had yielded. After the vintage was over
and the olives gathered, the earth was left bare; then they set off
with the swallows, though not always for warmer climes. It was the
time when sudden gales blow fiercely, when the crested waves begin to
roll and the sea is most stormy.
A few months after that memorable Friday upon which Bellacic and
Markovic had got shaved, exciting thereby everybody's astonishment,
they themselves were surprised to see their sons return unexpectedly.
The fact was that, upon reaching Cattaro, the ship on which they had
embarked was sold and all the crew were paid off. As they did not
think it worth their while to look for another ship, they seized this
opportunity to go and spend the 24th of May at home, for St. John's
is "the maddest, merriest day of all the glad New Year." Moreover,
they were lucky, for the year before had been a plentiful one, whilst
the new crops promised, even now, to make the _pojata_ groan under
their weight; for whilst an empty and a scanty larder can afford but
a sorry welcome, a hospitable man becomes even lavish when his casks
are full of wine, his bins are heaped with corn, his jars overflow
with oil; when, added to this, there is a prospect of more.
Uros and Milenko had but just arrived home when a little boy--the
youngest son of a wealthy neighbour, whose name's day was on the
morrow--appeared on the threshold of their door, and, taking off his
little cap demurely, said, in a solemn voice:
"Yours is the house of God. My father greets you, and asks you to
come and drink a glass of wine with him. We'll chat to while away the
evening hours, and we'll not withhold from you the good things St.
John, our patron saint, has sent us."
Having recited his invitation, the little herald bowed and went off
to bear his message elsewhere.
The family, who knew that this invitation was forthcoming, set off at
once for their friend's house. Upon reaching the gate of their host's
garden, all the men fired off their pistols as a sign of joy, amongst
the shouts of "_Zivio_"; then, upon entering, they went up to the
_Starescina_, the master of the house, and wished him, in God's name,
many happy returns of the day.
A goodly crowd of people had now gathered together, all bent upon
merry-making, and a fine evening they had of it; though, according to
the old men, this was but moping compared to the festivities they had
been used to in their youth. Then, hosts and guests being jolly
together, they quite forgot that time had wings, and eight days would
sometimes pass before anybody thought of leave-taking.
On that mystic evening almost all the amusements had an allegorical or
weird character. In every game there was an attempt at divination.
Thus the first one that was played consisted in throwing a garland
amidst the branches of a tree. If it remained caught at the first
throw, the owner was to get married during the year; if not, the
number of times the wreath was tossed upwards corresponded with as
many years of patient waiting. It was considered a bad omen if the
garland came to pieces.
When Uros threw his chaplet of flowers up it came at once down again,
bringing an old wreath that the wind and the winter storms had
respected.
"Why," said the _Starescina_, turning to Milena, who had come to
witness the game, "surely it is your husband's wreath!"
"Yes, I remember," added Markovic; "last year Radonic was with us,
and his garland remained in the tree the first time he flung it up."
"Oh, Uros, fie! you'll bring Radonic ill-luck yet."
Uros turned round, and his eyes met those of Milena for the first
time. Both blushed. There were a few moments of awkward silence, and
then the young man, touching his cap, said:
"I am sorry, _gospa_, but, of course, I did not do it on purpose."
"No, surely not, and, besides, it had to come down sooner or later."
He tossed his wreath up again, but whether he felt nervous because he
had been laughed at, or because the beautiful eyes of the young
Montenegrine woman paralysed his arm, he felt himself so clumsy and
awkward that he tossed up his garland several times, but he only
succeeded to batter it as it came down again.
"Just let me try once," said Milenko to his friend, as he cast his
wreath up in the branches of the tree, where it nestled.
Uros made another attempt; down came his garland, bringing his
friend's together with it, amid the general laughter.
"Uros is like the dog in the manger," said one of the bystanders; "he
will not marry, nor does he wish other people to do so."
"Bad luck and a bad omen!" whispered an old crony to Milenko. "Beware
of your friend; nor, if I were Radonic, should I trust my pretty wife
with him. Bad luck and a bad omen!"
After garland throwing, huge bonfires were kindled, and the
surrounding mountains gleamed with many lights. It was, indeed, a
fine sight to see the high, heaven-kissing flames reflected by the
dark waters of the blue Adriatic.
But of all the bonfires in the neighbourhood, the _Starescina_'s was
the biggest, for he was one of the richest men of the town. It was
thus no easy matter to jump scathless over it. Still, young and old
did manage to do so, either when the flames--chasing one another
--leapt up to the sky, or else when the fire began to burn low. The
stillness of the night was interrupted by prolonged shouts of
"_Zivio!_" repeated again and again by the echoes of the neighbouring
mountains; but amidst the shouting of "Long life!" you could hear the
hooting of some owl scared by this unusual glimmering light, and
every now and then the shrill cry of some witch or some other ghostly
wanderer of the night, and the suppressed groaning and gnashing of
teeth of evil spirits, disappointed to think that so many sturdy lads
and winsome lassies should escape their clutches for a whole year;
for they have no power against all those who jump over these hallowed
bonfires on the eve of the mystic saint's day.
"There, did you hear?" said one of the young girls, shuddering.
Thereupon we all crossed ourselves devoutly.
"It is better not to think of them, they cannot come near us," said
the _Starescina_.
"It is not long ago that we saw three witches burnt at Zavojane. When
was it, Bellacic?"
"It was in 1823, in the month of August, on the 3rd, if I remember
rightly."
"Oh! then they were real witches?"
"Of course."
"Were they very ugly? Had they beards?"
"Oh, no! they were very much like all the other elderly women of the
place."
"And what had they done?"
"No end of mischief. One of them had eaten a child alive. Another had
taken a young man's heart out of his body whilst he was asleep. He, on
awaking--not knowing what had happened to him--felt a great void in
his chest."
"Poor fellow!" said Milena, compassionately, whilst her glances fell
on Uros, and he actually felt like the young man who had lost his
heart.
"But what was she going to do with it?"
"Why, roast and eat it."
"A friar who had witnessed the whole thing, but who had been deprived
of all power of rendering assistance, accused her of witchcraft, and
she was made to give back the heart before she had had time to devour it."
"How wonderful!"
"The third had rendered all the balls of the guns aimless, and all
weapons blunt and useless. But these are only some of the many evils
they had done."
"And you saw them burnt?"
"Yes, in the presence of the Catholic parish priest, two friars and
all the local authorities."
The bonfires were now over, and nothing but the glowing embers
remained. All then went in the house to partake of the many good
things that St. John, or his namesake, had prepared for them.
There was for supper: first, whole lambs, roasted on the spit, then
fish, _castradina_, and many other dishes, all more or less stuffed
with garlic--a condiment which never fails anywhere. It is said that
the gods, having been asked if this bulb was to rank amongst eatables,
decreed that no dish should ever remain without it; and the Slavs
have faithfully followed out their decree.
When all had eaten till they were crop full, and had drunk their
fill, they all raught after their meat as seemly as Madame Eglentine;
then, loosening their belts, they remained seated on their stools, or
squatted on the ground, chatting, punning, telling anecdotes, or
listening to the grave discourses of the old men about St. John.
"Fancy," said a deacon of a neighbouring church, "when we have fasted
for a day or two, we think we have done much. St. John, instead,
fasted for forty days and forty nights, without even taking a sip of
water."
"But why did he fast so long?"
"Because he had committed a great sin; and on account of this sin he
always walked with his head bent down. When the people said to him,
'John, why do you not lift up your head?' he always replied demurely,
'Because I am not worthy to lift up my eyes heavenwards; and I shall
only do so when an infant, that cannot yet speak, will bid me do it.'
Now, it happened that one day John met a young woman carrying a
little child, and when the infant saw John, he said: 'John, lift up
thine eyes heavenward; my Father has forgiven thee.' The saint, in
great joy, knowing that the babe was Jesus Christ, went at once home;
and with a red-hot iron he burnt the initials of the Saviour on his
side, so that he might never forget his name."
"And now let's have a story," said the host.
As Milos Bellacic was noted for his skill in relating a good story, he
was asked by everybody to tell them one of his very best tales.
Being a man who had travelled, he knew how to treat women with more
deference than the remainder of the Buduans. So turning towards his
host's wife:
"Which will you have?" said he.
"Any one you like."
"'Hussein and Ayesha'?"
"No," said some. "Yes," added the others, without waiting for the
lady of the house to have her choice.
"Then 'The Death of Fair Jurecevic's Lovers'?"
"No, that was an old story."
"Perhaps, 'The Loves of Adelin the Turk and Mary the Christian'?"
"They all knew it."
"Or, 'Marko Kraglievic and the Vila'?"
"No, leave Marko to the _guzlari_."
"Well, then, it must be 'The Story of Jella and the Macic.'"
"Oh!" said the _gospodina_, "I once heard it in my childhood, and now
I only remember its name. Still, I have always had a longing to hear
it again; therefore, do tell it."
Milos Bellacic swallowed another glass of _slivovitz_, leaving,
however, a few drops at the bottom of his glass, which he spilt on
the floor as a compliment to the _Starescina_, showing thereby that
in his house there was not only enough and to spare, but even to be
wasted. He then took a long pull at the amber mouthpiece of his long
Marasca cherry pipe, let the smoke rise quietly and curl about his
nose, and, after clearing his throat, began as follows:
THE STORY OF JELLA AND THE MACIC.
Once upon a time there lived in a village of Crivoscie an old man
and his wife; they had one fair daughter and no more. This girl was
beyond all doubt the prettiest maiden of the place. She was as
beautiful as the rising sun, or the new moon, or as a _Vila_; so
nothing more need be said about her good looks. All the young men of
the village and of the neighbouring country were madly in love with
her, though she never gave them the slightest encouragement.
Being now of a marriageable age, she was, of course, asked to every
festivity. Still, being very demure, she would not go anywhere, as
neither her father nor her mother, who were a sullen couple of
stingy, covetous old fogeys, would accompany her.
At last her parents, fearing lest she might remain an old maid, and
be a thorn rather than a comfort to them, insisted upon her being a
little more sociable, and go out of an evening like the other girls.
"Moreover, if some rich young man comes courting you, be civil to
him," said the mother. "For there are still fools who will marry a
girl for her pretty face," quoth the father. It was, therefore,
decided that the very next time some neighbours gathered together to
make merry, Jella should take part in the festivity. "For how was she
ever to find the husband of her choice if she always remained shut up
at home?" said the mother.
Soon afterwards, a feast in honour of some saint or other happened to
be given at the house of one of their wealthy neighbours, so Jella
decked herself out in her finest dress and went. She was really
beautiful that evening, for she wore a gown of white wool, all
embroidered in front with a wreath of gay flowers, then an over-dress
of the same material, the sleeves of which were likewise richly
stitched in silks of many colours. Her belt was of some costly
Byzantine stuff, all purfled with gold threads. On her head she wore
a red cap, the headgear of the young Crivosciane.
As she entered the room, all the young men flocked around her to
invite her to dance the _Kolo_ with them, and to whisper all kinds of
pretty things to her. But she, blushing, refused them all, declaring
that she would not dance, elbowed her way to a corner of the room,
where she sat down quite alone. All the young men soon came buzzing
around her, like moths round a candle, each one hoping to be
fortunate enough to become her partner. Anyhow, when the music struck
up, and the _Kolo_ began, their toes were now itching, and one by one
they slunk away, and she, to her great joy, and the still greater
joy of the other girls, was left quite by herself.
While she was looking at the evolutions of the _Kolo_, she saw a
young stranger enter the room. Although he wore the dress of the
Kotor, he evidently was from some distant part of the country. His
clothes--made out of the finest stuffs, richly braided and
embroidered in gold--were trimmed with filigree buttons and bugles.
The _pas_, or sash, he wore round his waist was of crimson silk,
woven with gold threads; the wide morocco girdle--the _pripasnjaca_
--was purfled with lovely arabesques; his princely weapons, studded
with precious stones and damaskened, were numerous and costly. His
pipe, stuck not in his girdle like his arms, but 'twixt his blue
satin waistcoat--_jacerma_--and his shirt, had the hugest amber
mouthpiece that man had ever seen; aye, the Czar himself could not
possibly have a finer pipe. What young man, seeing that pipe with its
silver mounting, adorned with coral and turquoises, could help
breaking the Tenth Commandment? He was, moreover, as handsome as a
_Macic_, aye, as winsome as Puck.
He came in the room, doffed his cap to greet the company like a
well-bred young man, then set it pertly on his head again. After
that, he went about chatting with the lads, flirting with the
lassies, as if he had long been acquainted with them, like a youth
accustomed to good company. He did not notice, however, poor Jella in
her corner. He took no part in the dances, probably because, every
Jack having found his Jill, there was nobody with whom he could
dance.
The girls all looked slily at him, and many a one wished in her heart
that she had not been so hasty in choosing her partner, nay, that she
had remained a wallflower for that night.
At last the young stranger wended his steps towards that corner where
Jella was sitting alone, moping. He no sooner caught sight of her
than he went gracefully up, and, looking at her with a merry twinkle
in his eyes, and a most mischievous smile upon his lips:
"And you, my pretty one? Don't you dance this evening?" he asked.
"I never dance, either this evening or any other."
"And why not?"
"Because there is not a single young man I care to dance with."
"Oh, Jella!" whispered the girls, "dance with him if he asks you; we
should so much like to see how he dances."
"Then it would be useless asking you to dance the _Kolo_ with me, I
suppose?"
"Oh, Jella! dance with him," whispered the young men; "it would be an
unheard-of rudeness to refuse dancing with a stranger who has no
partner."
"Even if I did not care about dancing, I should do so for the sake of
our village."
"Then you only dance with me that it might not be said: 'He was
welcomed with the sour lees of wine'?"
"I dance with you because I choose to do so."
"Thank you, pretty one."
The two thereupon began to go through the maze of the _Kolo_, and, as
he twisted her round, they both moved so gracefully, keeping time to
the music, that they looked like feathery boughs swayed by the summer
breeze.
About ten o'clock the dances came to an end, and every youth, having
gone to thank his host for the pleasant evening he had passed, went
off with his partner, laughing and chatting all the way.
"And you, my lovely one, where do you live?" asked the stranger of
Jella.
"In one of the very last houses of the village, quite at the end of
the lane."
"Will you allow me to see you home?"
"If I am not taking you out of your way."
"Even if it were, it would be a pleasure for me."
Jella blushed, not knowing what to answer to so polite a youth.
They, therefore, went off together, and in no time they reached her
house. Jella then bid the stranger good-bye, and, standing on the
door-step, she saw him disappear in the darkness of the night.
Whither had he gone? Which turning had he taken? She did not know.
A feeling of deep sadness came over her; for the first time in her
life she felt a sense of bereavement and loneliness.
Would this handsome young man come back again? She almost felt like
running after the stranger to ask him if they would meet on the
morrow, or, at least, after some days. Being a modest girl, she, of
course, could not do so; moreover, the youth had already
disappeared.
"Did you bring me any cakes?" was the mother's first question,
peevish at being awakened in her first sleep.
"Oh, no! _mati_; I never ate a crumb of a cake myself."
"And you enjoyed yourself?"
"Oh! very much so; far more than I ever thought."
Thereupon she began to relate all that had happened, and would have
made a long description of the young man who had danced with her, but
her father woke in the midst of a tough snore and bade her hold her
tongue.
On the morrow there was again a party in the village, for it was
carnival, the time of the year when good folks make merry. When night
came on, Jella went to the dance without needing to be much pressed
by her parents. She was anxious to know if the young stranger would
be there, and, also, if he would dance with her or with some other
girl.
"Remember," said her mother to her as she was going off, "do not
dance with him 'like a fly without a head'; but measure him from top
to toe, and think how lucky it would be if he, being well off, would
marry a dowerless girl like you. The whole village speaks of him, of
his weapons and his pipe; still, he might be 'like a drop of water
suspended on a leaf,' without house or home. Therefore, remember to
question him as to his land, his castle, and so forth; try and find
out if he is an only son and from where he comes, for 'Marry with
your ears and not with your eyes,' as the saying is."
"Anyhow, take this tobacco-pouch," added the old man, "and offer it to
him before he leaves you."
"Why?" asked Jella, guilelessly.
"Because it is made out of a musk-rat, and so it will be easy to
follow him whithersoever he goes, even in the darkness of the night."
Jella, being a simple kind of a girl, did not like the idea of
entrapping a young man; moreover, if she admired the stranger, it was
for his good looks and his wit rather than for his rich clothes; but
being frightened both of her father and her mother, who had never had
a kind word for her, she promised to do as she was bidden. She then
went to the party, and there everything happened as upon the
preceding evening.
The girls all waited for the handsome young man to make his
appearance, and put off accepting partners till the last moment, each
one hoping that she might be the chosen one. The hour upon which he
had come the evening before was now past, and still they all waited
in vain. The music had begun, and the young men, impatient to be up
and doing, were heavily beating time with their feet. At last the
_Kolo_ began. They had just taken their places, and all except Jella
had forgotten the stranger, when he all at once stepped into the
room, bringing with him a number of bottles of maraschino, and cakes
overflowing with honey and stuffed with pistachios.
He, as upon the evening before, went round the room, talking with the
young men and teazing the prettiest girls. Then he stepped up to
Jella, and asked her to dance with him.
The _Kolo_ at last came to an end, the boys went off with the girls,
the old folks hobbled after them, and the unknown youth, putting his
arm round his partner's waist, as if he had been engaged to her,
accompanied her home.
They soon reached her house; Jella then gave the stranger the
tobacco-pouch, and, having bid him good-night, she stood forlorn on
the door-step, to see him go off. No sooner had he turned his back,
than the father, who was holding the door ajar and listening to every
word they said, slipped out, like a weasel, and followed him by the
smell of his musk pouch.
The night was as still as it was dark, the moon had not yet risen, a
hushed silence seemed to have fallen over nature, and not the
slightest animal was heard stirring abroad.
The young fellow, after following the road for about a hundred paces,
left the highway and took a short cut across the fields. The old man
was astounded to see that, though a stranger, he was quite familiar
with the country, for he knew not only what lane to take, but also
what path to follow in the darkness of the night, almost better than
he did himself. He climbed over walls, slipped through the gaps in
the hedges, leapt over ditches, just as if it had been broad
daylight.
Jella's father had a great ado to follow him; still, he managed to
hobble along, like an ungainly, bow-legged setter, as fast as the
other one capered. They crossed a wood, where the boles of the trees
had weird and fantastic shapes, where thorny twigs clutched him by
his clothes; then they came out on a plain covered with sharp flints,
where huge scorpions lurked under every stone. Afterwards they
reached a blasted heath, where nothing grew but gnarled, knotty, and
twisted roots of trees, which, by the dusky light of the stars,
looked like huge snakes and fantastical reptiles; there, in the
clumps of rank grass, the horned vipers curled themselves. After this
they crossed a morass, amidst the croaking of the toads and the
hooting of owls, where unhallowed will-o'-the-wisps flitted around
him.
The old man was now sorely frightened; the country they were crossing
was quite unknown to him, and besides, it looked like a spot cursed
by God, and leading to a worse place still. He began to lag. What was
he to do?--go back?--he would only flounder in the mire. He crossed
himself, shut his eyes tightly, and followed the smell of the musk.
He thus walked on for some time, shivering with fear as he felt a
flapping of wings near him, and ever and anon a draught of cold air
made him lose the scent he was following.
At last he stopped, hearing a loud creaking sound, a grating
stridulous noise, like that of the rusty hinges of some heavy iron
gate which was being closed just behind him.
A gate in the midst of a morass! thought he; where the devil could
he have come to? As he uttered the ominous word of _Kudic_ he heard
the earth groan under his feet.
It is a terrible thing to hear the earth groan; it does so just
before an earthquake!
He did not dare to open his eyes; he listened, awed, and then the
faint sound of a distant bell fell upon his ears.
It was midnight, and that bell seemed to be slowly tolling--aye,
tolling for the dead, the dead that groan in the bosom of the earth.
A shiver came over him, big drops of cold sweat gathered on his
forehead. He sniffed the cold night air; it smelt earthy and damp,
the scent of musk had quite passed away.
At last he half-opened his eyes, to see if he could perceive anything
of the young stranger. The moon, rising behind a hillock, looked like
a weird eye peeping on a ghastly scene. What did he see--what were
those uncouth shapes looming in the distance, amidst the surrounding
mist?
Why was the earth newly dug at his feet, shedding a smell of clay and
mildew?
He felt his head spinning, and everything about him seemed to whirl.
What was that dark object dangling down, as from a huge gallows?
Whither was he to go?--back across the wide morass, where the earth,
soft and miry, sank under his feet, where the unhallowed lights lead
the wanderers into bottomless quagmires?
He opened his eyes widely, and began to stare around. He saw strange
shapes flit through the fog, figures darker than the fog itself rise,
mist-like, from the earth. Were they night-birds or human beings? He
could not tell.
All at once he bethought himself that they were witches and wizards,
_carovnitsi_ and _viestitche_, the _morine_ or nightmares, and all
the creatures of hell gathering together for their nightly frolic.
Fear prompted him to run off as fast as he possibly could, but huge
pits were yawning all around him; moreover, curiosity held him back,
for he would have liked to see where the damned store away their
gold; so, between these two feelings, he stood there rooted to the
earth.
At last, when fear prevailed over covetousness, he was about to flee;
he felt the ground shiver under his feet, a grave slowly opened on
the spot where he stood, for--as you surely must have understood--he
was in the very midst of a burying-ground. At midnight in a
burying-ground, when the tombs gape and give out their dead! His hair
stood on end, his blood was curdling within his veins, his very heart
stopped beating.
Can you fancy his terror in seeing a _voukoudlak_, a horrid vampire
all bloated with the blood it nightly sucks. Slowly he saw them rise
one after the other, each one looking like a drowsy man awaking from
deep slumbers. Soon they began to shake off their sluggishness, and
leap and jump and frolic around, and as the mist cleared he could see
all the other uncouth figures whirl about in a mazy dance, like
midges on a rainy day.
It was too late to run away now, for as soon as these blood-suckers
saw him, they surrounded him, capering and yelling, twisting their
boneless and leech-like bodies, grinning at him with delight, at the
thought of the good cheer awaiting them, telling him that it was by
no means a painful kind of death, and that afterwards he himself
would become a vampire and have a jolly time of it.
At the sight of these dead-and-alive kind of ghosts, the poor man
wished he had either a pentacle, a bit of consecrated candle, or
even a medal of the Virgin; but he had nothing, he was at the mercy
of the fiends; therefore, overpowered by fear, he fell down in a
fainting-fit.
That night, and the whole of the following day, Jella and her mother
waited for the old man to come back; but they waited in vain. When
the evening came on, her mother persuaded her to go to the
dancing-party and see if the young stranger would come again.
"Perhaps," said she, "he might tell you something about your father;
if not, ask no questions. Anyhow, take this ball of thread, which I
have spun myself, and on bidding him good-bye, manage to cast this
loop on one of his buttons, drop the ball on the ground, and leave
everything to me. Very likely your father has lost the scent of the
musk, and is still wandering about the country. This thread, which is
as strong as wire, is a much surer guide to go by."
Jella did as she was bid. She went to the house where the _Kolo_ was
being danced; she spent the whole evening with the young stranger,
who never said a word about her father, and when the moment of
parting on the threshold of the door arrived, she deftly fastened the
end of the thread to one of his buttons, and then stood watching him
go off.
The ball having slowly unwound itself, the old woman darted out and
caught hold of the other end of the string. Then she followed the
youth in the darkness, through thorns and thickets, through brambles
and briars, as well as her tottering legs could carry her, much in
the same way her husband had done the evening before.
That night and the day afterwards, Jella waited for her father and
mother, but neither of them returned. When evening came on, afraid of
remaining alone, she again went to dance the _Kolo_.
The evening passed very quickly, and the rustic ball came to an end.
The youth accompanied her home as he had done the evening before, and
on their way he whispered words of love in her ear, that made her
heart beat faster, and her head grow quite giddy, words that made her
forget her father and mother, and the dreaded night she was to pass
quite alone. Still, as they got in sight of the house, Jella, who was
very frightened, grew all at once quite thoughtful and gloomy. Seeing
her so sorrowful, the young stranger put again his arm round her
waist, and looking deep into her dark blue eyes, he asked her why she
was so sad.
She thereupon told him the cause of all her troubles.
"Never mind, my darling," said the youth, "come along with me."
"But," faltered Jella, hesitatingly, "do you go far?"
"No, not so very far either."
"Still, where do you go?"
"Come and see, dear."
Jella did not exactly know what to do. She fain would go with him,
and yet she was afraid of what people might say about her, and again
she shuddered at the thought of having to remain at home quite alone.
"You are not afraid to come with me," he asked; "are you?"
"Afraid? No, why should I be? you surely would take care of me?"
"Of course; why do you not come, then?"
"Because the old women might say that it is improper."
"Oh," quoth he, laughing, "only old women who have daughters of their
own to marry, say such things!"
Thereupon he offered her his arm, and off they went.
Soon leaving the village behind them, they were in the open fields,
beyond the vineyards and the orchards, in the untilled land where the
agaves shoot their gaunt stalks up towards the sky, where the air is
redolent with the scent of thyme, sage and the flowering Agnus castus
bushes; then again they went through leafy lanes of myrtle and
pomegranate-trees and meadows where orchis bloomed and sparkling
brooks were babbling in their pebbly beds.
Though they had been walking for hours, Jella did not feel in the
least tired; it seemed as if she had been borne on the wings of the
wind. Moreover, all sense of gloom and sadness was over, and she was
as blithe and as merry as she had ever been.
At last--towards dawn--they reached a dense wood, where stately oaks
and fine beech-trees formed fretted domes high up in the air. There
nightingales warbled erotic songs, and the merle's throat burst with
love; there the crickets chirped with such glee that you could hardly
help feeling how pleasant life was. The moon on its wane cast a
mellow, silvery light through the shivering leaves, whilst in the
east the sky was of the pale saffron tint of early dawn.
"Stop!" said the young girl, laying her hand on the stranger's arm.
"Do you not see there some beautiful ladies dancing under the trees,
swinging on the long pendant branches and combing the pearly drops of
dew from their black locks?"
"I see them quite well."
"They must be _Vile_?"
"I am sure they are."
"Fairies should not be seen by mortal eyes against their wish. Then
do not let us seek their wrath."
"Do not be afraid, sweet child; we are no ordinary mortals, you and
I."
"You, perhaps, are not; but as for me, I am only a poor peasant
girl."
"No, my love, you are much better than you think. Look there! the
fairies have seen you, and they are beckoning you to go to them."
"But, then, tell me first what I am."
"You are a foundling; the old man and woman with whom you lived were
not your parents. They stole you when you were an infant for your
beauty and the rich clothes you wore."
"And you, who are you, _gospod_?"
"I?" said the young man, laughing. "I am _Macic_, the merry, the
mischievous sprite. I have known you since a long time. I loved you
from the first moment I saw you, and I always hoped that, 'as like
matches with like,' you yourself might perhaps some day get to like
me and marry me. Tell me, was I right?" said he, looking at her
mischievously.
Jella told him he was a saucy fellow to speak so lightly about such a
grave subject, but then--woman-like--she added that he was not wrong.
They were forthwith welcomed by the _Vile_ with much glee, and, soon
afterwards, their wedding was celebrated with great pomp and
merriment.
"But what became of the old man and his wife?" asked an interested
listener.
"They met with the punishment their curiosity deserved. They were
found a long time afterwards locked up in an old disused
burying-ground. They were both of them quite dead, for when they
fainted at the terrible sights they saw, the vampires availed
themselves of their helplessness to suck up the little blood there
was in them."
"May St. John preserve us all from such a fate," said Milos Bellacic,
crossing himself devoutly.
The story having come to an end, toasts were drunk, songs were sung
to the accompaniment of the _guzla_, the young people flirted, their
elders talked gravely about politics and the crops, whilst the women
huddled together in a corner and chatted about household matters.
After a while, an old ladle having been brought out, lead was melted
and then thrown into a bucket of water, and the fanciful arborescent
silvery mass it formed was used as a means of divination.
Most of the girls were clever in reading those molten hieroglyphics,
but none was so versed in occult lore as an old woman, an aunt of the
_Starescina_'s, who was also skilled in the art of curing with
simples.
Uros and Milenko, therefore, begged the good old woman to foretell
them their future; and she, looking at the glittering maze, said to
them:
"See here, these two are the paths of your life; see how smoothly
they run, how they meet with the same incidents. These little needles
that rise almost at marked distances are the milestones of the road;
each one is a year. Count them, and you will see that for a length of
time nothing ruffles the course of your life. But here a catastrophe,
then both paths branch out in different directions; your lives from
then have separate ends." The two young men heaved a deep sigh.
"Anyhow, you have several years of happiness in store for you. Make
good use of your time while it is yours, for time is fleeting."
Then, as she was rather given to speak in proverbs, she said to Uros:
"Let your friend be to you even as a brother. Remember that one day,
not very far off either, you will owe your life to him."
Drinking and carousing, singing and chatting, the evening came to an
end. In the early hours the guests took leave of their host, wishing
him a long and happy life, firing their pistols, not only as a
compliment to him, but also as a means of scaring away the evil
spirits. Upon reaching their houses, they bathed and washed with dew,
they rubbed themselves with virgin oil, so as to be strong and
healthy, besides being proof against witchcraft, for a whole year.