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 It tells the tale of his first meeting with his "Good Angel;" of his intense and overmastering affection for her; of her untimely death, and of his life-long misery and despair. Few words are needed to tell the story; but what a world of suffering is summed up in them!

This young girl was the daughter of the Armourer-Sergeant of a regiment in the Garrison. That she was a creature of uncommon loveliness, both of person and of mind, seems to be certain. She was described by Mrs. Barnes as resembling in character the Evangeline St. Clair of "Uncle Tom's Cabin." I mention this rather unwillingly, for I confess that my feeling with regard to the authoress of that once popular novel is anything but one of respect. Yet it must be owned, I think, that in delineating Eva St. Clair she has well pourtrayed a character of peculiar charm and sweetness. Twenty years ago it would probably have been difficult to find a reader who was not well acquainted with "Uncle Tom's Cabin;" but its popularity has so much declined of late years, that it is likely enough that Eva St. Clair is a name only to the great majority of the present generation. It seems worth while therefore to quote a short passage from the novel, in which her appearance and character are described:—

"Her form was the perfection of childish beauty, without its usual chubbiness and squareness of outline. There was about it an undulating and aërial grace, such as one might dream of for some mythic and allegorical being. Her face was remarkable, less for its perfect beauty of feature, than for a singular and dreamy earnestness of expression, which made the ideal start


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 when they looked at her, and by which the dullest and most literal were impressed, without knowing why. The shape of her head and the turn of her neck and bust was peculiarly noble, and the long golden-brown hair, that floated like a cloud around it, the deep spiritual gravity of her violet-blue eyes, shaded by heavy fringes of golden-brown, all marked her out from other children, and made every one turn and look after her, as she glided hither and thither. Nevertheless, the little one was not what you would have called either a grave child or a sad one. On the contrary, an airy and innocent playfulness seemed to flicker like the shadow of summer leaves over her childish face, and around her buoyant figure Always dressed in white, she seemed to move like a shadow through all sorts of places without contracting spot or stain; and there was not a corner or nook where those fairy footsteps had not glided, and that visionary golden head, with its deep blue eyes, fleeted along."

It is to be observed that this is the portrait of quite a young girl; but it is obvious that a very slight degree of alteration is needed to make it apply to one much older. Moreover, the passage I have quoted agrees so well with the various references in Mr. Thomson's writings to his lost love, that I can hardly doubt that it is an essentially true picture of her. We have in "Vane's Story" a description of her which will well bear comparison with the above extract:

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Thomson's devoted love was fully reciprocated by the object of it. Both of them were still very young; so young indeed, that it would scarcely have been a wonder if the rough soldiers amongst whom they lived, had been inclined to ridicule their attachment. But they were generally liked and respected and all who knew them felt a kindly interest in them, and wished them well. Their dream of love and happiness was brief indeed in duration, but it was perfect and unalloyed whilst it lasted.

Amongst those with whom he became acquainted in the army, the most notable was Charles Bradlaugh. Both entered the service about the same time. They were then youths of sixteen and seventeen years, Bradlaugh being the senior by about fourteen months. It was a strange chance that brought these two, so unlike in nearly every respect, together. Bradlaugh, the man of action and enterprise, ever striving for practical ends, yet loving a contest, whether physical or mental, as much for its own sake as for any advantage it might bring him: of firm and inflexible determination, who, when he has once


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 resolved to attain an object, never rests until that object is achieved. Thomson, the student, the idealist and poet, or say the dreamer, who shrank with almost morbid dislike from the noise and tumult of publicity, and who, like Hamlet, was fitted rather for contemplation than for action. What points of contact had they to bring them together and unite them in the bonds of friendship? It is probable, indeed, that each liked and respected the other for the very qualities which he himself lacked; certain it is that they remained for many years on terms of intimate friendship.

Bradlaugh, even at this early period of his life, had made himself known as an advocate of extreme political and theological views. Thomson had been pretty well grounded in Presbyterian theology, and although his views at this time may not have been strictly orthodox, yet he still believed in Christianity. Many and animated were the discussions that took place between them at this period—discussions that left each of them (as is usually the case) still of his own opinion. It would be a mistake to suppose that Thomson's opinions were modified in any way, owing to his intimacy with Bradlaugh. Whatever views he adopted were the result of careful inquiry and long meditation, and few persons were less likely to be swayed by the opinions of others. If he was any man's disciple, he was the disciple of Shelley, in whom


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 he recognised his poetical and personal ideal. He studied his works with minute and loving care, and to the last never ceased to speak of him in terms of admiration and gratitude. It is very probable that the study of Shelley's writings first led Thomson to doubt the truth of the doctrines of Christianity; but he would not have accepted even Shelley's conclusions had they not tallied with those which he arrived at by independent inquiry and thought. A change of creed to a sensitive person must ever be a painful process, and there is plenty of evidence to prove that it was so in Thomson's case. But one of his most marked characteristics was his complete intellectual honesty. His convictions were slowly formed, tenaciously held, and always expressed with vigour and decision. He never modified or softened the expression of his ideas from fear of Mrs. Grundy, or to conciliate his readers. Had he been less sincere or uncompromising his literary career would doubtless have been more successful.

Thomson remained in the army as assistant schoolmaster for about two years, the regiment to which he was attached being stationed in Ireland during the whole of that time. At the end of this period he was (according to the usual practice) sent to the Training College at


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 Chelsea to finish the course of studies necessary to qualify him for the post of a schoolmaster. The usual practice is for the students to remain there for two years, which period is required in most cases in order to fit the candidates for their duties. In his case, however, it was quite unnecessary to keep him there for such a length of time: indeed, he was quite able to pass the necessary examinations after he had been there only six months. Routine, however, exacted a stay of at least eighteen months before he was allowed to receive his appointment as schoolmaster.

It was towards the close of his stay at the College that he received the news of the death of his beloved. One morning there came a letter stating that she was dangerously ill: the next morning came the news of her death. Words cannot picture his grief and sorrow for her. For three days after receiving the news of her death, no food passed his lips, and it can hardly be doubted that he intended to starve himself to death. Had he done so the world would have lost much; but he himself would have lost nothing that he cared for, and would have been spared long dreary years of suffering and despair. Thenceforth Regret and Sorrow were his inseparable companions, and without hope and almost without object, his was rather a death-in-life than a healthy and natural existence. In striking him thus through his affections, destiny had wounded him where he was most vulnerable. No other affliction could have affected him as he was affected by this. In after-years he was doomed to endure much poverty: he suffered constant rebuffs in his endeavours to get his works published; and finally neglect


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 and discouragement so far affected him, that for "seven songless years" his muse was almost or altogether silent. These would have been grievous trials to most poets, and perhaps to him also under other circumstances: but his capacity for suffering was exhausted by his one great grief, and all his other misfortunes were borne with stoical indifference.

He left the Training College in 1854, when the Crimean War was about to begin. He was first sent to serve with a militia regiment in Devonshire. Afterwards he served at Aldershot, Dublin, Jersey, and other places. As regards his conduct as a schoolmaster, it may be remarked that his duties were always efficiently performed; but, as he felt little interest in his profession, he made no pretence of doing so, and in consequence, perhaps, did not obtain so much credit as he really deserved.

It must not be thought that he yielded himself an unresisting victim to the melancholy and despair that had fastened themselves so firmly upon him. He read extensively and studied deeply; but it was the composition of poetry that best enabled him to forget for a time his sorrows. He destroyed many of the poems written in his early manhood; but enough remain to attest the industry with which he cultivated his poetical talents. In the years 1854 to 1860 he wrote many poems, some of which are of considerable length. Perhaps the most remarkable of these is "The Doom of a City," which was written in 1857. Comparing this with "The City of Dreadful Night," written fourteen or fifteen years later, we find a great difference of tone and spirit, but


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 nearly the same power of conception and execution. Both are characterised by mastery of thought and language, ease of versification, and command of various metres. Both display the same power of picturesque description: a power that invests the scenes and events described with extraordinary vividness. A painter would find in both many incidents inviting him to transfer them to his canvas, and he might do so almost without introducing a single detail that he did not find described in the poet's verses. In concentration of thought and intensity of expression, "The City of Dreadful Night is as a whole superior to the earlier poem; yet there are some passages in "The Doom of a City" which equal even in these points the later poem. As regards the change that took place in the author's ideas in the interval that elapsed between their composition, the earlier poem supplies interesting evidence. The author of "The Doom of a City" believes in an over-ruling Providence, and in the Immortality of the Soul. He strives to reconcile the existence of evil with belief in a benevolent Creator, and labours to show that mankind are themselves responsible for the miseries they endure. Yet it may be perceived even here that he held these doctrines with no firm assurance, and that he was trying to convince himself that he believed them, rather than holding them with a complete conviction of their truth.

His first published poem was "The Fadeless Bower," which appeared in Tait's Edinburgh Magazine for July, 1858, with the signature of "Crepusculus." He continued to contribute to the pages of that magazine until it was discontinued in 1860. "Bertram to the Lady Geraldine,"


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 === CONTENTS ===

CHAPTER     PAGE

I. FIRST FLIGHT. . .  .    1   II. THE HOUSE OF THE ROSE. 14  III. THE LAKE. . .  .  .  .   25    IV. EFFIE AND BOBBIE. . .   43     V. THE ACROBAT. . .  .  .   60    VI. PUCK. . .  .  .  .  .   72  VII. IN THE TOILS. . .  .  .   87 VIII. THE BUG AND THE BUTTERFLY 104 IX. THE LOST LEG. . .  .  .  113    X. THE WONDERS OF THE NIGHT   133 XI. WITH THE SPRITE. . .  .  153  XII. ALOIS, LADYBIRD AND POET. 163 XIII. THE FORTRESS. . .  .  .  172   XIV. THE SENTINEL. . .  .  .  182    XV. THE WARNING. . .  .  .  194   XVI. THE BATTLE. . .  .  .  204  XVII. THE QUEEN'S FRIEND. . .  218


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 "It is just so," she continued, "Bicêtre is with his wife, Linois and Caffin are with theirs, Hotot is with FelicitéFélicité [sic], every Jack has his Jill: the wretch! he shall have my life or I will have his; I don't mind being killed; (grinding her teeth and tearing her hair;) Jules, do not leave me, I will massacre them, my friend, I will massacre them!"

During this ebullition of vengeance, we were still going forward, until at length we reached the corner of the Rue des Arcis. "What are you doing, Melie?" grunted out a harsh voice, and a female approached us. "It is the petite Madelon," cried Emilie.

"Ah my lass! how are you? I am on the look out: have you seen Caffin this evening?"

"Caffin, do you say?"

"Yes, Caffin."

"They are at mother Bariole's."

No hour is unfitting that can be turned to its purpose. Besides Emilie was one of the house. We went in and learnt that Caffin was there, but that Hotot had not made his appearance. On this intelligence, Madame Hotot imagined that they wished to deceive her.

"Yes, you encourage his vice," she said to Bariole, "give me my man, you old ."

I do not remember the epithets she heaped upon her, but there was, for a quarter of an hour, an incessant firing, supported by a succession of glasses of tape poured upon the wine which had already fermented jealousy to its height. "Will you cease with your bullying?" interrupted Bariole, who was an excellent trumpeter. "Your man! your man! he is at the mill, and the devil may fetch him. Did you put him into my keeping? He is a fine kiddy! Every body's man! Such fellows as he are to be picked up—. You think he is with Caffin, then go and see: go to Taquet's chamber.'

Emilie did not allow her to say so twice, but went to convince herself, and returned. "Well," said Bariole, "are you satisfied now?"


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 with all our experience and culture at their command, without any of the obsolete burdens and impediments which in the course of a thousand years have become inseparable from our institutions, and with a country which will want more labour and more people for many generations to come."

Then comes a characteristic passage about himself:—

"I am quite well again. Though never perhaps very strong, and rarely so well as to feel mere existence a delight (as to a really healthy person it must be; no inferior condition, in my opinion, deserves the name of health), I am seldom what we call unwell. When travelling about I always find myself immensely better than when confined to one place. With money, I believe I should never have a home, but be always going to and fro on the earth, and walking up and down in it, like him of whom I am one of the children."

Soon after his return from America he was engaged by the proprietors of the New York World to go to Spain as their Special Correspondent with the Carlists, who were then (1873) in insurrection against the Republican government. Their cause was apparently prospering, and it was supposed that they were about to make a bold stroke and march upon Madrid. This however they did not attempt, and though there was much marching and counter-marching there was very little real fighting. Thomson gave in the pages of the Secularist an entertaining account of his Spanish experiences. He remained in Spain about two months, and whilst there was for a time prostrated by a sun-stroke.

Shortly after his return to England, he became


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 "There is no one there but Caffin."

"Did I not tell you so?"

"Where is the brute, where is the monster?"

"If you like," I said to her, "I will take you to him."

"Oh pray do, I beg of you, Jules."

"It is a long distance from here, at the Hotel d'Angleterre."

"Do you think he is there?"

"I am sure of it; he went to pass an hour or two and wait until Félicité has finished her evening, and then he will go and meet her in the Rue Froid Manteau."

Emilie did not doubt but that I had exactly guessed the fact and would not delay a moment; she was bursting with rage, but would give me neither peace nor quiet until I had consented to undertake to go with her to the Hotel d'Angleterre. The transit appeared long, for I was the knight of a lady, whose centre of gravity, vacillating excessively, gave me much trouble to keep my own equilibrium; however, half dragging, half carrying the belle, I reached the Rue St. Honoré, and the very door of the haunt where she trusted to find her man. We went through the rooms, and without fear of disturbing the amorous tête-à-têtestête-à-tête [sic], glanced our eyes over each closet which was ranged on both sides of the corridor. Hotot was not there, and the rival of Félicité was transported beyond bounds, her eyes were starting from their orbits, her lips covered with foam; she wept, she stormed, she was an epileptic, a demoniac; with dishevelled hair, pale, her features frightfully and spasmodically contracted, and the sinews of her neck stretched by passion, she presented the hideous appearance of one of those corpses to whom galvanism gas restored motion. Terrible effects of love and brandy, jealousy and wine! Yet in the crisis which thus agitated her, Emilie did not lose sight of me, but clinging to my arm, swo eswore [sic] never to quit me until she had unkennelled the ingrate who had thus tormented her.


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 === LIST OF COLORED ILLUSTRATIONS ===

“Won't you come in ?”. .  .   .   .    FRONTISPIECE FACING PAGE Maya lifted her wings, buzzed farewell to the lake, and flew inland. .  .   .   .   .   .   .   .   42  A human being in miniature was coming up out of     the iris. .  .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .  146 The Queen came without her court, attended only by her aide and two ladies-in-waiting. .  .  200


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 But there was now no more that I wished to learn, and for some time I had been endeavouring to rid myself of her, and make her understand that I was going to inquire if Félicité had returned, which was soon done, as she lived in a house where there was a doorkeeper. Emilie, who had received so much complaisance from me, could but be pleased with my offer, and I went out without any attempt on her part to follow me; but instead of performing the commission I had undertaken, I went to the corps de garde of the Château d'Eau, when making myself known to the chief officer, I begged him to arrest and keep her in the closest confinement. It certainly pained me to push matters to this extremity, for after all she had evinced it will be agreed that Emilie deserved a better fate, but this night she certainly passed in the guard-house. How painful it is sometimes to perform strict duty! No one knew better than myself where was the beloved whom she was cursing; was I not necessarily deprived of the satisfaction of proving him innocent when she supposed him guilty? Perhaps, before I proceed further, it may not be useless to say why I had caused Hotot to be apprehended. It was that he might not have time to exculpate himself by the removal of all traces of his share in the robbery, or in bargaining for his safety with the police. But the tender Emilie, why imprison her? Had I not to dread her return to Bariole's, where, in the loquacity of intoxication, she might utter reminiscences which would put Caffin on his guard? It may be objected that she was not in a state even to keep herself upright; I will not dispute that; but the reader must remember that, from the experience of children and drunkards, certain philosophers have been induced to think that men (and women of course included) were originally quadrupeds. Emilie, even on four paws, could have regained her domicile, and then her tongue would soon have returned, and my measures must infallibly have been betrayed.


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 secretary to another company, which also collapsed after a brief career. In 1874 he published in the National Reformer his most remarkable work, "The City of Dreadful Night." This poem was much more fortunate than its predecessors, for it attracted a good deal of notice in literary circles, and was very favourably spoken of in the Academy. The Spectator devoted an article to it, which, though censuring its tone, yet did some degree of justice to the remarkable powers of the author. But what most delighted Mr. Thomson was a few words of praise from the author of "Adam Bede." For "George Eliot" he always felt and expressed the deepest admiration, and her praise probably gave him the greatest degree of pleasure that he was capable of feeling. Here is an extract from her letter:—"My mind responds with admiration to the distinct vision and grand utterance in the poem which you have been so good as to send me. Also I trust that an intellect informed by so much passionate energy as yours will soon give us more heroic strains with a wider embrace of human fellowship in them—such as will be to the labourers of the world what the odes of Tyrteus were to the Spartans, thrilling them with the sublimity of the social order, and the courage of resistance to all that would dissolve it."

Mr. W. M. Rossetti (to whose edition of Shelley's Poetical Works Thomson had contributed some notes) also expressed his great admiration for the poem, and thenceforth remained on very friendly terms with the author. Philip Bourke Marston, the unfortunate Oliver Madox Browne, and Miss Blind may also be mentioned


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 After all these precautions, Hotot being already in my clutch, I had only to secure his three accomplices, and I knew where to prick for them all. I took two agents with me, and soon afterwards presented myself at Bariole's in the name of the law.

"Ah!" said the mother, "when I saw you bring your body here, I feared all was not right. What will these gentlemen take?" she added, addressing my two aide-de-campsaides-de-camps [sic]. "You will take something to be sure, what shall it be? from the small bottle that I keep for friends?" and whilst speaking, she stooped to rummage in her counter-drawer, whence she took, from amongst a parcel of millinery, an old gilt flask which contained the precious liquid. "I am obliged to hide it, or with these girls—ah! people are much to be pitied who have to deal with women. I vow, if ever I can get a means of living—how happy they are who have an income to live upon! See, I have not enough to provide myself with an arm-chair. Here is one like a skeleton, we can see its bones."

"Oh! come, tell us about your sofa; it has beautiful hair, and one leg in the air most gracefully," said a young girl, who, when we entered, was sleeping on a table in the corner of the room; "it is like Philemon and Baucis?"

"What, is that you, little RealRéal [sic]? I did not see you. What are you chattering about with your Philemus and Baucou? What are you talking about?"

"I said," replied Fifine, "that it is like the Sybil's tripod."

"Good, good, it is the tripeman's arm-chair; you shall not say so of it any longer. I will have it new stuffed. You see she has had an education, and is not an ignorant beast like us: see what it is to have parents. But I know enough to enable me to carry on the war. Come come, Fifine, draw the cork of this bottle and have a drop."

"You are very kind, ma'am."

"Do not tell any of the others."


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Author:Oliver Madox Brown

Works

 * Gabriel Denver (1873)
 * The Dwale Bluth, Hebditch's Legacy, and other Literary Remains (1876), in 2 vols.

Works about Brown

 * Oliver Madox Brown; a biographical sketch, 1855-74 (1883) by John Henry Ingram

title: Author:Oliver Madox Brown


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first of the tales given here is one which with slight variants is told by Hottentots wherever they live in South Africa. It was taken down in the corrupt Dutch used by those people and translated into English by the late Mr. Thomas Bain, and was first published in the Folklore Journal of July 1879. The second is taken from the late Dr. Bleek's Reynard the Fox in South Africa or Hottentot Fables and Tales, published in London in 1864. It was taken down by the reverend G. Krönlein, Rhenish missionary in Great Namaqualand, from narrators in the Nama dialect, and was presented by him to the Grey Library in Capetown, where it was translated into English by Dr. Bleek. The third and fourth were collected with many others by myself from people of the Xosa tribe between 1860 and 1879. The Xosas are of mixed Bantu and Hottentot descent, and the Hottentot women who during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were forced to become the consorts of Bantu men must have introduced these stories, for they are not current among pure Bantu elsewhere. They have a very slight Bantu colouring but not more than sufficient to bring them into line with Xosa comprehension. The fifth is one of several taken down in Dutch by Captain Alexander in Little Namaqualand, and translated by him into English. The others are English translations by Dr. Bleek from Namaqua stories collected by the reverend Mr. Krönlein.

There was a great drought in the land, and the lion called together a number of animals, that they might devise a plan for retaining water when the rains fell. The animals which attended


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126 to the lion's summons were the baboon, the leopard, the hyena, the jackal, the hare, and the mountain tortoise. It was agreed that they should scratch a large hole in some suitable place to hold water; and the next day they all began to work, with the exception of the jackal, who continually hovered about in that locality, and was overheard to mutter that he was not going to scratch his nails off in making water-holes.

When the dam was finished, the rains fell, and it was soon filled with water, to the great delight of those who had worked so hard at it. The first one, however, to come and drink there was the jackal, who not only drank, but filled his clay pot with water, and then proceeded to swim in the rest of the water, making it as muddy and dirty as he could. This was brought to the knowledge of the lion, who was very angry, and ordered the baboon to guard the water the next day, armed with a huge knobkerie. The baboon was concealed in a bush close to the water; but the jackal soon became aware of his presence there, and guessed its cause. Knowing the fondness of baboons for honey, the jackal at once hit upon a plan, and marching to and fro, every now and then dipped his fingers into his clay pot, and licked them with an expression of intense relish, saying in a low voice to himself, “I don't want any of their dirty water when I have a pot full of delicious honey.” This was too much for the poor baboon, whose mouth began to water. He soon began to beg the jackal to give him a little honey, as he had been watching a long time and was very hungry and tired.

After taking no notice of the baboon at first, the jackal looked round, and said in a patronising manner that he pitied such an unfortunate creature, and would give him some honey on certain conditions, viz. that the baboon should give up his knobkerie and allow himself to be bound. He foolishly agreed, and was soon tied in such a manner that he could not move hand or foot. The jackal now proceeded to drink of the water, to fill his pot, and to swim, in the sight of the baboon, from time to time telling him what a foolish fellow he had been to be so easily duped, and that he (the jackal) had no honey or anything else to give him, excepting a good blow on the head every now and then with his own knobkerie. The animals soon appeared, and found the poor baboon in this sorry plight, looking very miserable. The lion was so exasperated that he caused the baboon to be severely punished and to be denounced as a fool.


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Rh The tortoise hereupon stepped forward and offered his services for the capture of the jackal. It was at first thought that he was merely joking, but when he explained in what manner he proposed to catch him, his plan was considered so feasible that his offer was accepted. He proposed that a thick coating of the sticky black substance found on beehives should be spread all over him, and that he should then go and stand at the entrance of the dam, on the water level, so that the jackal might tread upon him and stick fast. This was accordingly done, and the tortoise posted there.

The next day, when the jackal came, he approached the water very cautiously, and wondered to find no one there. He then ventured to the entrance of the water, and remarked how kind they had been in placing there a large black stepping-stone for him. As soon, however, as he trod upon the supposed stone he stuck fast, and saw that he had been tricked, for the tortoise now put his head out and began to move. The jackal's hind feet being still free, he threatened to smash the tortoise with them if he did not let him go. The tortoise merely answered, “Do as you like.” The jackal thereupon made a violent jump, and found with horror that his hind feet were now also fast. “Tortoise,” said he, “I have still my mouth and teeth left, and will eat you alive if you do not let me go.” “Do as you like,” the tortoise again replied. The jackal, in his endeavours to free himself, at last made a desperate bite at the tortoise, and found himself fixed both head and feet. The tortoise, feeling proud of his successful capture, now marched quietly up to the top of the bank with the jackal on his back, so that he could easily be seen by the animals as they came to the water. They were indeed astonished to find how cleverly the crafty jackal had been caught, and the tortoise was much praised, while the unhappy baboon was again reminded of his misconduct when set to guard the water.

The jackal was at once condemned to death by the lion, and the hyena was to execute the sentence. The jackal pleaded hard for mercy, but finding this useless he made a last request to the lion (always, as he said, so fair and just in his dealings) that he should not have to suffer a lingering death. The lion inquired of him in what manner he wished to die; and he asked that his tail might be shaved and rubbed with a little fat, and that the hyena might then swing him round twice and dash his brains out upon a stone. This being considered sufficiently fair by the lion, was ordered by


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128 him to be carried out in his presence. When the jackal's tail had been shaved and greased, the hyena caught hold of him with great force, but before he had fairly lifted him from the ground, the cunning jackal had slipped away from his grasp and was running for his life, pursued by all the animals. The lion was the foremost pursuer, and after a great chase the jackal got under an overhanging precipice, and standing on his hind legs with his shoulders pressed against the rock, called loudly to the lion to help him, as the rock was falling and would crush them both. The lion put his shoulders to the rock, and exerted himself to the utmost. After some little time the jackal proposed that he should creep slowly out, and fetch a large pole to prop up the rock, so that the lion could get out and save his life. The jackal did creep out, and left the lion there to starve and die.

Some women, it is said, went out to seek roots and herbs and other wild food. On their way home they sat down and said, “let us taste the food of the field.” Now they found that the food picked by one of them was sweet, while that of the others was bitter. The latter said to each other, “look here! this woman's herbs are sweet.” Then they said to the owner of the sweet food, “throw it away and seek for other.” So she threw away the food, and went to gather more. When she had collected a sufficient supply, she returned to join the other women, but could not find them. She went therefore down to the river, where the hare sat lading water, and said to him, “hare, give me some water that I may drink.” But he replied, “this is the cup out of which my uncle (the lion) and I alone may drink.”

She asked again: “hare, draw water for me that I may drink.” But the hare made the same reply. Then she snatched the cup from him and drank, but he ran home to tell his uncle of the outrage which had been committed. The woman meanwhile replaced the cup and went away. After she departed the lion came down, and, seeing her in the distance, pursued her on the path. When she turned round and saw him coming, she sang in the following manner:

My mother, she would not let me seek herbs, Herbs of the field, food from the field. Hoo!


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Rh When the lion at last came up with the woman, they hunted each other round a shrub. She wore many beads and armrings, and the lion said, “let me put them on.” So she lent them to him, but he afterwards refused to restore them to her. Then they hunted each other again round the shrub, till the lion fell down, and the woman jumped upon him and kept him there. The lion said:

“My aunt! it is morning, and time to rise; Pray rise from me!”

She then rose from him, and they hunted again after each other round the shrub, till the woman fell down, and the lion jumped upon her. She then addressed him:

“My uncle! it is morning, and time to rise; Pray rise from me!”

He rose, and they hunted each other again, till the lion fell a second time. When she jumped upon him, he said:

“My aunt! it is morning, and time to rise; Pray rise from me!”

They rose again and hunted after each other. The woman at last fell down. But this time, when she repeated the above conjuration, the lion said:

He kha! Is it morning, and time to rise?

He then ate her, taking care, however, to leave her skin whole, which he put on, together with her dress and ornaments, so that he looked quite like a woman, and then went home to her kraal.

When this counterfeit woman arrived, her little sister, crying, said, “my sister, pour some milk out for me.” She answered, “I shall not pour you out any.” Then the child addressed the mother: “Mama, do pour out some for me.” The mother of the kraal said, “go to your sister, and let her give it to you.” The little child said again to her sister, “please pour out for me!” She, however, repeated her refusal, saying, “I will not do it.” Then the mother of the kraal said to the little one, “I refused to let her (the elder sister) seek herbs in the field, and I do not know what may have happened; go therefore to the hare, and ask him to pour out for you.”


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Rh and threatening also the ever-increasing, ever-deepening roar of the lonely river.

Beyond the oratory of San Mauro, where the mule-path to the convents turns to the left, running along the side of the hill towards the Madonnina dell' Oro, and another mule-path leads straight into the ravine, past the ruins of the Baths of Nero, Benedetto disengaged himself gently from the monk's arm, and stopped.

"Listen, Padre," said he; "I must speak with you; perhaps at some length."

"Yes, my friend, but it is late; let us go into the monastery."

Benedetto lived at the Ospizio for pilgrims, the farmhouse, which is reached from a courtyard communicating by a great gate with the public way and by a small gate with the corridor of the monastery, leading from the public way to the church and to the second of the three cloisters.

"I had rather not return to the monastery tonight, Padre," said he.

"You had rather not return?"

On other occasions during the three years he had spent in the free service of the monastery, Benedetto had obtained permission from Don Clemente to spend the night in prayer, out among the hills. Therefore the master at once concluded that his disciple was passing through one of those periods of terrible inward struggle, which forced him to flee from his poor couch and from the shadows


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130 So the hare gave her some milk; but her elder sister said, “come and share it with me.” The little child then went to her sister with her bamboo (cup), and they both sucked the milk out of it. Whilst they were doing this, some milk was spilt on the little one's hand, and the elder sister licked it up with her tongue, the roughness of which drew blood; this, too, the woman licked up. The little child complained to her mother: “Mama, sister pricks holes in me, and sucks the blood.” The mother said, “with what lion's nature your sister went the way that I forbade her, and returned, I do not know.”

Now the cows arrived, and the elder sister cleansed the pails in order to milk them. But when she approached the cows with a thong (in order to tie their fore legs), they all refused to be milked by her. The hare said, “why do you not stand before the cow?” She replied, “hare, call your brother, and do you two stand before the cow.” Her husband said, “what has come over her that the cows refuse her? these are the same cows she always milks.” The mother (of the kraal) said, “what has happened this evening? These are cows which she always milks without assistance. What can have affected her that she comes home as a woman with a lion's nature?”

The elder daughter then said to her mother, “I shall not milk the cows.” With these words she sat down. The mother said therefore to the hare, “bring me the bamboos that I may milk. I do not know what has come over the girl.” So the mother herself milked the cows, and when she had done so, the hare brought the bamboos to the young wife's house, where her husband was, but she (the wife) did not give him (her husband) anything to eat. But when at night time she fell asleep, they saw some of the lion's hair, which was hanging out when he had slipped on the woman's skin, and they cried, “verily, this is quite another being. It is for this reason that the cows refused to be milked.”

Then the people of the kraal began to break up the hut in which the lion lay asleep. When they took off the mats, they said (conjuring them), “if thou art favourably inclined to me, o mat, give the sound sawa” (meaning making no noise). To the poles they said, “if thou art favourably inclined to me, o pole, thou must give the sound ǂgara.” They addressed also the bamboos in a similar manner.


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88 of his room, accomplices, these, of the evil one, in tormenting his imagination.

"Listen to me, Padre!" said Benedetto.

His tone was so firm, so laden with the gravity of coming words, that Don Clemente judged it wiser not to insist upon the lateness of the hour. Hearing the beat of hoofs above them, and knowing the riders were coming in their direction, the two stepped aside on to the small, grassy plateau, upon which still remain humble remnants of Neronian grandeur, which, with some arches hidden in the thick grove of hornbeams on the opposite bank, once formed part of the same Terme, but are now divided by the complaining of the Anio far below. Above those arches once dwelt the priest of Satan, and the shameless women, who assailed the sons of St. Benedict with their wiles. The monk thought of Jeanne Dessalle. There, at the end of the ravine, high up above the hills of Preclaro and of Jenne Vecchio, shone the two stars which had been spoken of on the Selvas' terrace as "holy lights."

They waited for the riders to pass. When they had done so, Benedetto, in silence, fell upon his master's neck. Don Clemente, full of wonder and noticing that he trembled and was shaken by convulsive starts, concluded that the sight of that woman had caused this emotion, and kept repeating to him:

"Courage, dear friend, courage; this is a trial sent by the Lord!"


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Rh Thus gradually and noiselessly they removed the hut and all its contents. Then they took bunches of grass, put them over the lion, and lighting them, said, “if thou art favourably inclined to me, o fire, thou must flare up, boo boo, before thou comest to the heart.” So the fire flared up when it came towards the heart, and the heart of the woman jumped upon the ground. The mother (of the kraal) picked it up, and put it into a calabash. The lion, from his place in the fire, said to the mother (of the kraal), “how nicely I have eaten your daughter.” The woman answered, “you have also now a comfortable place.”

Now the woman took the first milk of as many cows as calved, and put it into the calabash where her daughter's heart was; the calabash increased in size, and in proportion to this the girl grew again inside it.

One day, when the mother (of the kraal) went out to fetch wood, she said to the hare, “by the time that I come back you must have everything nice and clean.” But during her mother's absence, the girl crept out of the calabash, and put the hut in good order, as she had been used to do in former days, and said to the hare, “when mother comes back and asks who has done these things, you must say, I, the hare, did them.” After she had done all, she hid herself.

When the mother (of the kraal) came home, she said, “hare, who has done these things? they look just as they used to when my daughter did them.” The hare said, “I did the things.” But the mother would not believe it, and looked at the calabash. Seeing it was empty, she searched and found her daughter. Then she embraced and kissed her, and from that day the girl stayed with her mother, and did everything as she was wont in former times; but she now remained unmarried.

Once upon a time the animals made a kraal and put some fat in it. They agreed that one of their number should remain to be the keeper of the gate. The first one that was appointed was the coney. He agreed to take charge, and all the others went away. In a short time the coney fell asleep, when the inkalimeva (a fabulous animal) went in and ate all the fat. After doing this, he threw a little stone at the coney.


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132 The coney started up and cried out: “the fat belonging to all the animals has been eaten by the inkalimeva.” It repeated this cry several times, calling out very loudly. The animals at a distance heard it, they ran to the kraal, and when they saw that the fat was gone they killed the coney.

They put fat in the kraal a second time, and appointed the muishond to keep the gate. The muishond consented, and the animals went away as before. After a little time the inkalimeva came to the kraal, bringing some honey with it. It invited the keeper of the gate to eat honey, and while the muishond was enjoying himself the inkalimeva went in and stole all the fat. It threw a stone at the muishond, which made him look up. The muishond cried out: “the fat belonging to all the animals has been eaten by the inkalimeva.” As soon as the animals heard the cry, they ran to the kraal and killed the muishond.

They put fat in the kraal a third time, and appointed the duiker to be the keeper of the gate. The duiker agreed, and the others went away. In a short time the inkalimeva made its appearance. It proposed to the duiker that they should play at hide and seek. The duiker agreed to this. Then the inkalimeva hid itself, and the duiker looked for it till he was so tired that he lay down and went to sleep. When the duiker was asleep, the inkalimeva ate up all the fat. Then it threw a stone at the duiker, which caused him to jump up and cry out: “the fat belonging to all the animals has been eaten by the inkalimeva.” The animals, when they heard the cry, ran to the kraal and killed the duiker.

They put fat in the kraal the fourth time, and appointed the bluebuck to be the keeper of the gate. When the animals went away, the inkalimeva came as before. It said: “what are you doing by yourself?” The bluebuck answered: “I am watching the fat belonging to all the animals.” The inkalimeva said: “I will be your companion, come, let us sit down and scratch each other's heads.” The bluebuck agreed to this. The inkalimeva sat down; it scratched the head of the other till he went to sleep. Then it arose and ate all the fat. When it had finished, it threw a stone at the bluebuck and awoke him. The bluebuck saw what had happened, and cried out: “the fat belonging to all the animals has been eaten by the inkalimeva.” Then the animals ran up and killed the bluebuck also.


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Rh Benedetto whispered to him:

"It is not what you think."

Having controlled his feelings, he begged the master to sit down upon a ruined wall, against which he himself—kneeling on the grass—rested his folded arms.

"Since this morning," said he, "I have been warned by certain signs that the Lord's will concerning me is changed; but I have not been able to understand in what way. You know what happened to me three years ago in that little church where I was praying, while my poor wife lay dying?"

"You allude to your vision?"

"No; before the vision—having closed my eyes—I read on my eyelids the words of Martha:  'Magister adest et vocal te!'  This morning, while you were saying Mass, I saw the same words within me. I believed this to be an automatic revulsion of memory. After the communion I had a moment of anxiety, for it seemed to me Christ was saying in my soul: 'Dost thou not understand, dost thou not understand, dost thou not understand?' I passed the day in a state of continual agitation, although I strove to tire myself more than usual in the garden. In the afternoon I sat reading a short time under the ilex tree, where the Fathers congregate. I had St. Augustine's De Opero Monachorum. Some people passed on the upper road, talking in loud voices. I raised my head mechanically. Then, I cannot tell why, but


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 as persons who felt and expressed high admiration for "The City of Dreadful Night."

Apologising for whatever may seem egotistical in the narrative, I shall now proceed to give some account of my own acquaintance with Mr. Thomson. When I read on its first appearance in the National Reformer the poem "To our Ladies of Death" I became convinced that it must be the work of a genuine poet. I read it again and again, my admiration increasing with each perusal. Thenceforth I looked eagerly in each issue of the Reformer for some new poem or essay from the pen of "B. V."

The impression upon my mind of the great powers of this unknown writer deepened with time, and my wonderment was great that an author of such genius should confine it to the pages of the Reformer.

"The City of Dreadful Night" when first published ran through four or five numbers of the National Reformer. It was, however, crowded out of the paper one week, and held over to the next number. Thereupon I wrote to the editor to express my disappointment at its non-appearance, taking occasion at the same time to


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Rh They put fat in the kraal the fifth time, and appointed the porcupine to be the keeper of the gate. The animals went away, and the inkalimeva came as before. It said to the porcupine: “let us run a race against each other.” It let the porcupine beat in this race. Then it said: “I did not think you could run so fast, but let us try again.” They ran again, and it allowed the porcupine to beat the second time. They ran till the porcupine was so tired that he said: “let us rest now.” They sat down to rest, and the porcupine went to sleep. Then the inkalimeva rose up and ate all the fat. When it had finished eating, it threw a stone at the porcupine, which caused him to jump up. He called out with a loud voice: “the fat belonging to all the animals has been eaten by the inkalimeva.” Then the animals came running up, and put the porcupine to death.

They put fat in the kraal the sixth time, and selected the hare to be the keeper of the gate. At first the hare would not consent. He said: “the coney is dead, and the muishond is dead, and the duiker is dead, and the bluebuck is dead, and the porcupine is dead, and you will kill me also.” They promised him that they would not kill him, and after a good deal of persuasion he at last agreed to keep the gate.

When the animals were gone he laid himself down, but he only pretended to be asleep. In a short time the inkalimeva went in, and was just going to take the fat when the hare cried out: “let the fat alone.” The inkalimeva said: “please let me have this little bit only.” The hare answered, mocking: “please let me have this little bit only.”

After that they became companions. The hare proposed that they should fasten each other's tails, and the inkalimeva agreed. The inkalimeva fastened the tail of the hare first. The hare said: “don't tie my tail so tight.” Then the hare fastened the tail of the inkalimeva. The inkalimeva said: “don't tie my tail so tight;” but the hare made no answer. After tying the tail of the inkalimeva very fast, the hare took his club and killed it. The hare took the tail of the inkalimeva and ate it, all except a little piece which he hid in the fence. Then he called out: “the fat belonging to all the animals has been eaten by the inkalimeva.”

The animals came running back, and when they saw that the inkalimeva was dead they rejoiced greatly. They asked the hare


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134 for the tail, which should be kept for the chief. The hare replied: “the one I killed had no tail.” They said: “how can an inkalimeva be without a tail?” They began to search, and at length they found a piece of the tail in the fence. They told the chief that the hare had eaten the tail. He said: “bring him to me.” All the animals ran after the hare, but he fled, and they could not catch him. The hare ran into a hole, at the mouth of which the animals set a snare, and then went away. The hare remained in the hole many days, but at length he managed to get out without being caught.

He went to a place where he found a bushbuck building a hut. There was a pot on the fire with meat in it. He said to the bushbuck: “can I take this little piece of meat?” The bushbuck answered: “you must not do it.” But he took the meat and ate it all. After that he whistled a particular tune, and there fell a storm of hail which killed the bushbuck. Then he took the skin of the bushbuck, and made for himself a mantle.

After this the hare went into the forest to get for himself some weapons to fight with. While he was cutting a stick the monkeys threw leaves upon him. He called to them to come down and beat him. They came down, but he killed them all with his weapons.

Little Jackal one day went out hunting, when he met a Lion. The lion proposed that they should hunt together, on condition that if a small antelope was killed it was to be the jackal's, and if a large one was killed it was to be the lion's. The jackal agreed to this. The first animal killed was a large eland. The lion was very glad, and said to the jackal: “I will continue hunting while you go to my house and call my children to carry the meat home.” The jackal replied: “yes, I agree to that.” The lion went away to hunt. When he had gone, the jackal went to his own house and called his own children to carry away the meat. He said: “lion takes me for a fool if he thinks I will call his children while my own are dying with hunger.” So the jackal's children carried the meat to their home on the top of a high rock. The only way to get to their house was by means of a rope.

The lion caught nothing more, and after a time he went home and asked his wife where the meat was. She told him there was no


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Rh


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 avow my admiration of it, and of Mr. Thomson's writings generally. The editor handed my note to Mr. Thomson, who thereupon wrote me the following letter:—

",—I have just received from Mr. Bradlaugh your note about myself, and hasten to thank you heartily for your very generous expressions of approval of my writings. While I have neither tried nor cared to win any popular applause, the occasional approbation of an intelligent and sympathetic reader cheers me on a somewhat lonely path.

"You must not blame Mr. Bradlaugh for the delay in continuing my current contribution to his paper As an Editor he must try to suit his public, and the great majority of these care nothing for most of what I write. As for this 'City of Dreadful Night,' it is so alien from common thought and feeling, that I knew well (as stated in the Proem) that scarcely any readers would care for it; and Mr. B. tells me that he has received three or four letters energetically protesting against its publication in the N. R., yours I think being the only one praising it. Moreover, one must not forget that there is probably no other periodical in the kingdom which would accept such writings, even were their literary merits far greater than they are

"While preferring to remain anonymous for the public, I have no reason to hide my name from such correspondents as yourself.—Yours truly, " (B. V.)"

In replying to this letter, I expressed a wish to become personally acquainted with Mr. Thomson. He was


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 pleased to accede to my request, and thenceforth we remained on terms of friendship up to the time of his death.

"Why don't you bring out your poems in book form?" was naturally one of the first questions I put to him. Thereupon he explained that he thought it very unlikely that any publisher could be found who would risk money in publishing them, and that he had no means of paying for their publication himself, as most modern poets have to do. This led me to make an offer of such assistance as might be in my power to give him. At first I intended to take the entire risk of their publication upon myself, but my circumstances took rather an unfortunate turn about that time, and I was compelled, very much to my regret, to abandon the idea. Mr. Thomson then tried various publishers, most of whom told him frankly that there was no market for poetry, and that they could not undertake to publish for him. This was fair enough, and he had no ground for dissatisfaction with these gentlemen but it is not so easy to excuse a certain publisher, who, after making a definite promise to publish, and keeping him for some months in suspense, at last refused to fulfil his engagement. Whilst I am upon this subject, it will be well perhaps to relate the circumstances under which the poems were eventually published. It happened to occur to me in a fortunate moment that an application to Messrs. Reeves & Turner on Mr. Thomson's behalf might meet with success. I had already made an unsuccessful trial in another quarter, the gentleman to whom I proposed it valuing his respectability far too much to run any risk of forfeiting it by publishing anything so heterodox as "The City of Dreadful Night." Messrs.


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90 instead of resuming my reading, I closed the book and fell to thinking. I thought of what St. Augustine says about manual labour for monks, I thought of the order of St. Benedict, of Rancé, and of how the Benedictine order might again return to manual labour. Then, in a moment of weariness, but with my heart still full of the immense grandeur of St. Augustine, I believed I heard a voice from the upper world crying:  'Magister adest et vocat te!'  Perhaps it was only an hallucination, only because of St. Augustine, only some unconscious memory of the  'Tolle, lege'; I do not deny this, but, nevertheless, I trembled, trembled like a leaf. And I asked myself fearfully, Does the Lord wish me to become a monk? You know, Padre mio—I have repeated it to you on two or three occasions—that in one particular, at least, this would correspond with the end of my vision. But when you counselled me, as did also Don Giuseppe Flores, not to put faith in this vision, I told you that, to me, another reason for not putting faith in it was that I do not feel myself worthy to be a priest, and, furthermore, that the idea of joining any religious order is strangely repugnant to me. But what if God should enjoin it upon me! What if this great repugnance be but a trial! I wished to speak to you when we were on our way to the Selvas', but you were in haste to be there, and so it was not possible. There, seated on the bundle of fagots under the acacias, I received the last blow. I was weary,


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136 meat. He said: “did not Little Jackal bring a message to my children to carry meat?” His wife replied: “no, he has not been here. We are still dying with hunger.”

The lion then went to he jackal's house, but he could not get up the rock to it, so he sat down by the water and waited. After a time the jackal came to get water. He was close to the water when he saw the lion. He at once ran away, and the lion ran after him. He ran into a hole under a tree, but the Hon caught his tail before he got far in. He said to him: “that is not my tail you have hold of, it is a root of the tree. If you do not believe me, take a stone and strike it, and see if any blood comes.” The lion let go the tail, and went for a stone to prove what it was. While he was gone for the stone, Little Jackal went far into the hole. When the lion returned, he could not be found, so the lion lay down by the hole and waited. After a long time Little Jackal wanted to come out. He went to the entrance and looked round, but he could not see the lion. To make sure, he said: “ho! I see you, my master, although you are in hiding.” The lion did not move from the place where he lay concealed. Then Little Jackal went out, and the lion pursued him, but he got away.

The lion watched for him, and one day, when the jackal was out hunting, he came upon him in a place where he could not escape. The lion was just about to spring upon him, when Little Jackal said softly: “hush! do you not see that bushbuck on the other side of the rock? I am glad you have come to help me. Just remain here while I run round and drive him towards you.” The lion did so, and the jackal made his escape.

At another time there was a meeting of the animals, and the lion was the chief at the meeting. Little Jackal wanted to go too, but there was a law made that no one should be present unless he had horns. So Little Jackal took wax out of a nest of bees, and made horns for himself with it. He fastened the horns on his head, and went to the meeting. The lion did not know him on account of the horns. But he sat near the fire and went to sleep, when the horns melted. The lion looked at him and saw who it was. He immediately tried to catch him, but the jackal was quick and sprang away. He ran under an overhanging rock and sang out: “help, help, this rock is falling upon me!” The lion went for a pole to prop up the rock, that he might get at the jackal. While he was away Little Jackal escaped.


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 The glass was poured out, and a double row of pearls was formed on the surface of the Coignac.

"It is delicious; I say it is in the Costico Barbaro," observed Fifine.

"Well, gentlemen," resumed Bariole, "shall we leave a drop for the Capuchins? Fill, I drink to you. Here's to you my men; here we are all in perfect harmony, and yet we must die some day! It is so pleasant to agree when friends meet! Ah! my God, yes we must die, and that pains me, and yet we have all toil and trouble on this earth; it is too much for me, there is not a minute when the idea does not pass through my mind; but let us live honestly, that is the main thing, and then we can always walk with our heads up:—Let us not be led into temptation. In my case, die when I may, no one can reproach me with wronging them of the value of a pin's head. But what leads you here at this hour, my children? Not for my girls; they are all quiet; if you want a sample, look at her (pointing to Fifine.) But, by the by, Jules, what have you done with MelieMélie [sic]?"

"I'll tell you presently; give us a candle."

"I will bet you want Caffin. Good riddance; I assure you he is a regular fancy man."

"And a woman thumper, too!" added Fifine.

"We don't often see the colour of his blunt," said Bariole. "See, Jules, on this slate is the expense and earnings of his wife; she cannot get enough for the fellow. If Paris could be cleared of such vagabonds, we should be better off." She offered to lead me to the pensioner's chamber, but as I knew the way as well as she did, I declined the offer. "The second door," she said, "with the key in it." I could not mistake, and entering the room told Caffin he was my prisoner.

"Well! well! what's the row?" said he, waking; "what, is it you, Jules, who have nabbed me?"

"What do you mean? I am no conjuror, and if you had not been snitched, I should not have come to disturb your sleep."


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 Reeves & Turner being liberal-minded men who had already distinguished themselves by bringing out the handsomest and most complete edition of Shelley's Works, were not alarmed even by Thomson's heterodoxy, and it was promptly agreed upon that "The City of Dreadful Night, and other Poems" should be issued at the joint risk of those gentlemen and myself.

Returning to Thomson's connection with the National Reformer and Mr. Bradlaugh, it has to be noted that in 1875 disagreements took place between the editor and his most brilliant contributor, which led to the latter's secession from that paper. I have already dwelt upon the utter unlikeness of character of the two men; and considering this, it is by no means surprising that they eventually disagreed; the wonder is rather that they remained friends for so long a time.

It was now necessary for Thomson to seek for other employment; and he was fortunate enough to obtain a literary engagement, which during the few years he was yet to live was to prove his main dependence. Messrs. Cope, the well-known tobacco-merchants of Liverpool, published at this time a monthly periodical called Cope's Tobacco Plant. I suppose their main object in issuing it was to advertise their business; but however this may be, their periodical was of an unusually bright and entertaining character. It was conducted by Mr. John Fraser, whose success in discovering unknown talent, and in availing himself of it, made him a model editor. The contributors were paid on a very liberal scale, and it is probable that Thomson derived almost as much advan-


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Rh After that they became companions again, and went hunting another time. They killed an ox. The lion said: “I will watch it while you carry the pieces away.” The lion gave him the breast, and said, “take this to my wife.” Little Jackal took it to his own wife. When he returned, the lion gave him a shin, and said: “take this to your wife.” Little Jackal took the shin to the lion's house. The lion's wife said: “I cannot take this, because it should not come here.” Little Jackal thereupon struck the lion's wife in the face, and went back to the place where the ox was killed. The lion gave him a large piece of meat, and said: “take this to my wife.” Little Jackal took it to his own wife. This continued till the ox was finished. Then they both went home.

When the lion arrived at his house he found there was weeping in his family. His wife said: “is it you who sent the jackal to beat me and my children, and is it you who sent this shin? Did I ever eat a shin?” When the lion heard that, he was very angry, and at once went to the jackal's house. When he reached the rock, Little Jackal looked down and said: “who are you, and what is your name, and whose son are you, and where are you from, and where are you going to, and whom do you want, and what do you want him for?” The lion replied: “I have merely come to see you. I wish you would let the rope down.” Little Jackal let down a rope made of mouse skins, and when the lion climbed a little way up, the rope broke, and he fell and was hurt. He then went home.

A tiger (leopard) was returning home from hunting on one occasion, when he lighted on the kraal of a ram. Now the tiger had never seen a ram before, and accordingly, approaching submissively, he said, “Good day, friend! what may your name be?”

The other, in his gruff voice, and striking his breast with his fore foot, said, “I am a ram. Who are you?”

“A tiger,” answered the other, more dead than alive; and then, taking leave of the ram, he ran home as fast as he could.

A jackal lived at the same place as the tiger did, and the latter, going to him, said, “Friend jackal, I am quite out of


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 "What, at the old game, but it won't do; old birds are not caught with such chaff."

"Just as you please, it is your own affair; but if what they say be true your fortune is told—you are bound for a trip to the Bagne."

"Yes, believe that and drink water, you will never be full."

"Well then, if you must have it all to convince you, listen. I have no interest in pumping you. I repeat that I could not have guessed your haunt had I not been told that you filched some double tripe (lead) on the boulevard Saint-Martin, when you narrowly escaped the watch, or you would not have needed my visit. Are you fly now? Out of the quartette that made the gang, one has blown the gaff, guess the nose and I will tell you."

Caffin reflected for a moment, and then, lifting his head up like a horse who rears, "Jules," he said, "I perceive one of the party has started, take me to the big-wig and I'll make a clean breast on't too. There is no harm in peaching when others have nosed first. It is another thing with you, who are a spy by compulsion, for I know that if you could make a good hit you would give the police the go-by."

"As you observe, my boy, if I had known what I now know, I should not have been amongst them, but when our senses leave us we do many things we cannot undo."

"Where are you going to take me to?"

"To the station of the Place du Châtelet, and if you will tell the facts, I will inform the commissary."

"Yes, tell him to come, I will trap that Hotot, for it is only he who could have blown us."

The commissary came. Caffin confessed the crime, but at the same time did not fail to accuse Hotot, whom he pointed out as his only accomplice. He was not a false brother. His two friends showed the same friendship; surprised in bed, and interrogated se-


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Page:The Indian Journal of Medical Research, 1920.djvu/5

 CONTENTS.

[All rights reserved.)

Ohosh, S. Chemical Investigation in connection with Leprosy

Inquiiy. Part II 211

Author:R. W. Fisher The Vaccine Institute, Belgaum. A Record of its History and Work... 216

Patton, W. S. Some Notes on the Arthropods of Medical and Veterinary Importance in Mesopotamia and on their Relation to Disease. Part IV. Some Mesopotamian Xematocera of Economic Importance. ...... 245

Patton, W. S. Some Notes on the Arthropods of Medical and Veterinary Impoi'tance in Mesopotamia and on their Relation to Disease. Part V. Some ^Miscellaneous Arthropods. 253 Harvey, W. F. Vaccine Lymph. Production, Preparation and

Pr servation .......•• 257

Harvey, W. F. Bacteriological and Laboratory Technique. 270
 * Senior-White, R. A. A Survey of the Culicidae of a Rubber

Estate. • . . . ^ 304

-Greig, E. D. W. Observations on the Pathology and

Bacteriology of Influenza. . . . • • 326

■Chatter JI, K. K., and Sex, R. N. Chemical Composition of

Nim or Margosa Oil. . . . • • • ^56

•CuRJEL, Dagmar F. The Weight at Birth of Infants in India. 363 €urjel, Dagmar F. The Reproductive Life of Indian Women 366 <Jaius, J. F., and Mhaskar, K. S. The Correlation between the Chemical Composition of Anthelmintics and their Therapeutic Values in coimection with the Hookworm Inquiry in the Madras Presidency. No. VII— Oleum Eucalypti ...••••• 37l

•Caius, J.' F., and Mhaskar, K. S. The Correlation between the Chemical Composition of Anthelmintics and their Therapeutic Values in connection with the Hookworm Inquiry in the Madras Presidency. No. VIII— Chloroform, 379 Caius, J. F., and Mhaskar, K. S. The Correlation between Chemical Composition and Anthelmintics and their the Therapeutic Values in connection with the Hookworm Inquiry in the Madras Presidency. No. IX— The Eucalyptus- Chloroform Mixture ....••• ''°*^ Mhaskar, K. S. The Prevalence of Ankylostomiasis in the Madras Presidency. No. III. Hookworm Infection as a predisposing Factor in ^ledical Diseases. . . • 395 Mhaskar, K. S. Hookworm Infection and Sanitation. 398 Appeal from the Chairman, Blinded Soldiers' and Saih^-s' Care

Committee, London .....•• ^07


text: The Indian Journal of Medical Research/Volume 8/The Vaccine Institute, Belgaum


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 parately, they could not do otherwise than confess their guilt. Hotot, whom they accused of their misfortune, was the only one whom each inculpated. In spite of this nobility of feeling, worthy of being cited with the fine traits of "Active Morality," this generous trio were sent to the galleys, and the traitor Hotot accompanied them. He is now at the Bagne, where, most probably, he does but talk about the most curious particulars of his apprehension.

EmelieEmilie [sic] Simonet was released after six hours' captivity. When set free, she was half paralyzed by the bumpers she had quaffed; she could no longer understand, speak, or see, nor had she preserved the least recollection of what had passed. When the first ray of light broke in upon her, she asked for her lover, and on the reply of one of her companions that he was at La Force, "Miserable man!" she exclaimed, "what had he to do with taking lead from roofs, had he not all that man could wish for with me?" Afterwards, the unfortunate EmelieEmilie [sic] showed herself inconsolable, and the exemplary model of a grief that was daily poisoned; if in the morning she was only maudlin, by evening she was dead—drunk. Terrible effects of love and brandy, of brandy and love!

A theft of small extent has supplied me with an opportunity of sketching a hideous picture; and yet the sketch is but very imperfect and far from the abominable reality, from which the powers that be, who are bound to promote all that is good and civilized, will deliver us, when to them it seemeth best. To permit these sinks of corruption wherein the people plunge body and soul, and which are never closed, is an insult to morality, an outrage upon nature, and a crime against humanity. Let not these pages be accused as licentious; they are not the recitals of Petronius which add fuel to the already inflamed imagination, and make proselytes to impurity. I describe immorality, not to extend its influences, but to make them


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138 breath, and am half dead with fright, for I have just seen a terrible looking fellow, with a large and a thick head, and on my asking him what his name was, he answered roughly, ‘I am a ram.’ ”

“What a foolish tiger you are!” cried the jackal, “to let such a nice piece of flesh stand! Why did you do so? but we shall go to-morrow, and eat it together.”

Next day the two set off for the kraal of the ram, and as they appeared over a hill, the ram, who had turned out to look about him, and was calculating where he should that day crop a tender salad, saw them, and he immediately went to his wife and said, “I fear this is our last day, for the jackal and tiger are both coming against us. What shall we do?”

“Don't be afraid,” said the wife, “but take up the child in your arms, go out with it, and pinch it, to make it cry as if it were hungry.” The ram did so, as the confederates came on.

No sooner did the tiger cast his eyes upon the ram than fear again took possession of him, and he wished to turn back. The jackal had provided against this and made the tiger fast to himself with a leathern thong, and said, “come on!” when the ram cried in a loud voice, and pinching his child at the same time, “You have done well, friend jackal, to have brought us the tiger to eat, for you hear how my child is crying for food!”

On these dreadful words the tiger, notwithstanding the entreaties of the jackal to let him go, to let him loose, set off in the greatest alarm, dragged the jackal after him over hill and valley, through bushes and over rocks, and never stopped to look behind him, till he brought back himself and the half-dead jackal to his place again. And so the ram escaped.

The wild animals, it is said, were once assembled at the lion's. When the lion was asleep the jackal persuaded the little fox to twist a rope of ostrich sinews in order to play the lion a trick. They took ostrich sinews, twisted them, and fastened the rope to the lion's tail and the other end of the


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 abominated. Who that has read this chapter, is not horrified at the vices it depicts, since they produce the last degree of brutalization?

an individual of passable intellect bends all his faculties to one point, it out seldom occurs that he does not become expert in his profession. This is the whole secret of my great aptitude for detecting thieves. The moment I became a secret agent, I had but one thought, and all my efforts tended to reduce to inaction as speedily as possible the wretches, who, desirous of perverting the resources of labour, seek a subsistence in a series of outrages on the right of property, more or less criminal. I did not delude myself as to the sort of success of which I was ambitious, and I had not the folly to think that I could effectually extirpate robbery; but by carrying on a war à l'outrance against offenders, I hoped to render them less numerous. I may say, that the success of my first attempts surpassed the expectation of myself and M. Henry. In my own estimation, my reputation increased with too much rapidity; for reputation betrayed the mystery of my employ, and from the moment I was known, it was necessary either that I should renounce the service of the police, or else belong to it ostensibly. Thenceforward, my task became much more difficult, but obstacles


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 purpose. After some hours, for the darkness made his labour tedious, and sometimes ineffectual, he had removed several of the bars, and had made an opening almost sufficient to permit his escape, when the dawn of light appeared; he now discovered, with inexpressible anguish, that the grate opened into an inner court of the castle, and even while he hesitated he could perceive soldiers descending slowly into the court, from the narrow staircases which led to their apartments. His heart sickened at the sight. He rested against the wall in a pause of despair, and was on the point of springing into the court, to make a desperate effort at escape, or die in the attempt, when he perceived by the encreasing light which fell across the vault, a massy door in the opposite wall; he ran towards it, and endeavoured to open it; it was fastened by a lock and several bolts. He struck against it with his foot, and the hollow sound which was returned, convinced him that there were vaults beyond; and by the direction of these vaults, he was certain that they must extend to the outer walls of of the castle; if he could gain these vaults, and penetrate beyond them in the darkness of the ensuing night, it would be easy to leap the wall, and cross the ditch; but it was impossible to cut away the lock, before the return of his guard, who regularly visited the cell soon after the dawn of day. After some consideration, therefore, he determined to secrete himself in a dark part of the vault, and there await the entrance of the guard, who on observing the deranged bars of the grate, would conclude, that he had escaped through the aperture. He had scarcely placed himself according to his plan, when be heard the door of the dungeon unbolted; that was instantly followed by a loud voice, which sounded down the opening, and "Alleyn" was shouted in a tone of fright and consternation. After repeating the call, a man jumped into the vault. Alleyn, though himself concealed in darkness, could perceive, by the faint light which fell upon the spot, a soldier with a


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Rh rope they tied to a shrub. When the lion awoke and saw that he was tied up, he became angry and called the animals together. When they had assembled, he said (using this form of conjuration)—

“What child of his mother and father's love,

Whose mother and father's love has tied me?”

Then answered the animal to whom the question was first put:

“I, child of my mother and father's love,

I, mother and father's love, I have not done it.”

All answered the same; but when he asked the little fox the little fox said:

“I, child of my mother and father's love,

I, mother and father's love, have tied thee.”

Then the lion tore the rope made of sinews, and ran after the little fox. But the jackal said:

“My boy, thou son of the lean Mrs. Fox, thou wilt never be caught.”

Truly the lion was thus beaten in running by the little fox.

The jackal, it is said, came once to the dove, who lived on the top of a rock, and said, “give me one of your little children.” The dove answered, “I shall not do anything of the kind.” The jackal said, “give it to me at once, otherwise I shall fly up to you.” Then she threw one down to him.

He came back another day, and demanded another little child, and she gave it to him. After the jackal had gone, the heron came, and asked, “dove, why do you cry?” The dove answered him, “the jackal has taken away my little children; it is for this that I cry.” He asked her, “in what manner can he take them?” She answered him, “when he asked me I refused him; but when he said, I shall at once fly up, therefore give it to me, I threw it down to him.” The heron said, “are you such a fool as to give your children to the jackal, who cannot fly?” Then, with the admonition to give no more, he went away.

The jackal came again, and said, “dove, give me a little child.” The dove refused, and told him that the heron had


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 drawn sword in his hand. He approached the grate with execrations, examined it, and proceeded to the door; it was fast; he returned to the grate, and then proceeded along the walls, tracing them with the point of his sword. He at length approached the spot where Alleyn was concealed, who felt the sword strike upon his arm, and instantly grasping the hand which held it, the weapon fell to the ground. A short scuffle ensued; Alleyn threw down his adversary, and standing over him, seized the sword, and presented it to his breast; the soldier called for mercy. Alleyn, always unwilling to take the life of another, and considering that if the soldier was slain, his comrades would certainly follow to the vault, returned him his sword. "Take your life," said he, "your death can avail me nothing;—take it, and if you can, go tell Malcolm, that an innocent man has endeavoured to escape destruction." The guard, struck with his conduct, arose from the ground in silence, he received his sword, and followed Alleyn to the trap door. They returned into the dungeon, where Alleyn was once more left alone. The soldier undetermined how to act, went to find his comrades; on the way he met Malcolm, who, ever restless and vigilant, frequently walked the ramparts at an early hour. He enquired if all was well. The soldier, fearful of discovery, and unaccustomed to dissemble, hesitated at the question; and the stern air assumed by Malcolm, compelled him to relate what had happened. The Baron, with much harshness, reprobated his neglect, and immediately followed him to the dungeon, where he loaded Alleyn with insult. He examined the cell, descended into the vault, and returning to the dungeon, stood by, while a chain, which had been fetched from a distant part of the castle, was fixed into the wall;—to this Alleyn was fastened. "We will not long confine you thus," said Malcolm, as he quitted the cell, "a few days shall restore you to the liberty you are so fond of; but as a conqueror ought to have spectators of his


text: Memoirs of Vidocq, Volume III/Chapter 38


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140 told her that he could not fly up. The jackal said, I shall catch him.

So when the heron came to the bank of the water, the jackal asked him: “brother heron, when the wind comes from this side, how will you stand?” He turned his neck towards him, and said, “I stand thus, bending my neck on one side.” The jackal asked him again, “when a storm comes, and when it rains, how do you stand?” He said to him, “I stand thus, indeed, bending my neck down.” Then the jackal beat him on his neck, and broke his neck in the middle.

Since that day the heron's neck is bent.

Two things, the elephant and the rain, had a dispute. The elephant said, “if you say that you nourish me, in what way is it that you do so?” The rain answered, “if you say that I do not nourish you, when I go away will you not die?” And the rain then departed.

The elephant said, “vulture! cast lots to make rain for me.” The vulture said, “I will not cast lots.”

Then the elephant said to the crow, “cast lots,” who answered, “give the things with which I may cast lots.” The crow cast lots, and rain fell. It rained at the lagoons, but they dried up, and only one lagoon remained.

The elephant went a-hunting. There was, however, the tortoise, to whom the elephant said, “tortoise, remain at the water.” Thus the tortoise was left behind when the elephant went a-hunting.

There came the giraffe, and said to the tortoise, “give me water.” The tortoise answered, “the water belongs to the elephant.”

There came the zebra, who said to the tortoise, “give me water.” The tortoise answered, “the water belongs to the elephant.”

There came the gemsbok, who said to the tortoise, “give me water.” The tortoise answered, “the water belongs to the elephant.”

There came the wildebeest, and said, “give me water.” The tortoise said, “the water belongs to the elephant.”


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Rh There came the roodebok, and said to the tortoise, “give me water.” The tortoise answered, “the water belongs to the elephant.”

There came the springbok, and said to the tortoise, “give me water.” The tortoise answered, “the water belongs to the elephant.”

There came the jackal, and said to the tortoise, “give me water.” The tortoise answered, “the water belongs to the elephant.”

There came the lion, and said, “little tortoise, give me water.” When the little tortoise was about to say something, the lion got hold of it and beat it; the lion drank of the water, and since that time the animals drink water.

When the elephant came back from the hunting, he said, “little tortoise, is there water?” The tortoise answered, “the animals have drunk the water.” The elephant asked, “little tortoise, shall I chew you or swallow you down?” The little tortoise said, “swallow me, if you please,” and the elephant swallowed it whole.

After the elephant had swallowed the little tortoise, and it had entered his body, it tore off his liver, heart, and kidneys. The elephant said, “little tortoise, you kill me.”

So the elephant died; but the little tortoise came out of his dead body, and went wherever it liked.

The lion, it is said, used once to fly, and at that time nothing could live before him. As he was unwilling that the bones of what he caught should be broken into pieces, he made a pair of white crows watch the bones, leaving them behind at the kraal while he went a-hunting. But one day the great frog came there, broke the bones in pieces, and said, “why can men and animals live no longer?” And he added these words, “when he comes, tell him that I live at yonder pool; if he wishes to see me he must come there.”

The lion, lying in wait (for game), wanted to fly up, but found he could not fly. Then he got angry, thinking that at the kraal something was wrong, and returned home. When he arrived, he asked, “what have you done that I cannot fly?” Then they answered and said, “some one came here,


text: Poems (Eminescu)/Eve on the Hill

title: Poems (Eminescu)/Eve on the Hill


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142 broke the bones into pieces, and said, ‘if he wants me he must look for me at yonder pool.’ ” The lion went, and arrived while the frog was sitting at the water's edge, and he tried to creep stealthily upon him. When he was about to get hold of him, the frog said, “ho!” and diving went to the other side of the pool, and sat there. The lion pursued him, but as he could not catch him he returned home.

From that day, it is said, the lion walked on his feet, and also began to creep upon (his game); and the white crows became entirely dumb since the day that they said, “nothing can be said of that matter.”

It will be observed that these tales are of a different class from those of the Bushmen. They differ also greatly in style from those of the Bantu, as can be seen by comparing them with the tales given in succeeding chapters. They show the power of the Hottentot mind, but are not of the great value that the Bantu tales are in tracing the migrations of these people.


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User talk:Em3rgent0rdr

— billinghurst  sDrewth  11:45, 26 November 2023 (UTC)

2017 Hamas Charter
What is the copyright status of this ? -- Beardo (talk) 14:30, 28 November 2023 (UTC)

 * The original (https://irp.fas.org/world/para/docs/hamas-2017.pdf I believe) does not have any "copyright" word or copyright symbol. My guess is Hamas doesn't want any copyright restrictions on it, anyway. And considering they aren't recognized by any government (to my knowledge) who are signatories to international intellectual property agreements, I would think it doesn't really matter. But who knows how intellectual property law works for such cases. Em3rgent0rdr (talk) 00:30, 29 November 2023 (UTC)
 * We cannot work on guesses, we need to have an evidence base, and a legitimate, reliable source. If we cannot, then we will need to remove the work per WS:WWI — billinghurst  sDrewth  07:05, 29 November 2023 (UTC)
 * Ok. I can't seem to find info about the actual copyright, so sounds like it will have to be deleted. But, I actually don't know how to properly delete the page.  When I try to do an edit to replace the contents with nothing, I get red text that says "This action has been automatically identified as harmful, and therefore disallowed. What to do? If you believe your action was constructive, please inform an administrator of what you were trying to do by leaving a message at Wikisource:Administrators' noticeboard...".  Since you are an administrator, I guess the ball is in your hands to delete it. Em3rgent0rdr (talk) 16:54, 30 November 2023 (UTC)

title: User talk:Em3rgent0rdr


text:
User talk:MiscPerfectionAZ

— billinghurst  sDrewth  11:45, 26 November 2023 (UTC)

title: User talk:MiscPerfectionAZ


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 They soon came to a decayed thicket, where brambles and thorns supplied the room of the oaks and birches of which it had once consisted. Here the guide turned short off the open heath, and, by a sheep-track, conducted Morton to the brook. A hoarse and sullen roar had in part prepared him for the scene which presented itself, yet it was not to be viewed without surprise and even terror. When he emerged from the devious path which conducted him through the thicket, he found himself placed on a ledge of flat rock, projecting over one side of a chasm not less than a hundred feet deep, where the dark mountain stream made a decided and rapid shoot over the precipice, and was swallowed up by a deep, black, yawning gulph. The age in vain strove to see the bottom of the fall; it could catch but one sheet of foaming uproar and sheer decent, until the view was obstructed by the projecting crags, which inclosed the


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 Morton listened more attentively, and out of the very abyss into which the brook fell, and amidst the tumultuary, sounds of the cataract, thought he could distinguish shouts, screams, and even articulate words, as if the tortured demon of the stream had been mingling his complaints with the rear of his broken waters.

"This is the way," said the little girl; "follow me, gin ye please, sir, but tak' tent to your feet;" and, with the daring agility which custom had rendered easy, she vanished from the platform on which she stood, and, by notches and slight projections in the rack, scrambled down its face into the chasm which it overhung. Steady, bold, and active, Morton hesitated not to follow her; but the necessary attention to secure his hold and footing in a descent where both foot and hand were needful for security, prevented him from looking around him, till, having descended nigh twenty feet, and being sixty or seventy above the pool which received the


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 fall, his guide made a pause, and he again found himself by her side in a situation that appeared equally romantic and precarious. They were nearly opposite to the water-fall, and in point of level situated at about one-quarter's depth from the point of the cliff over which it thundered, and three-fourths of the height above the dark, deep, and restless pool which received its fall. Both these tremendous points, the first shoot, namely, of the yet unbroken stream, and the deep and sombre abyss into which it was emptied, were full before him, as well as the whole continuous stream of billowy froth, which, dashing from the one, was eddying and boiling in the other. They were so near this grand phenomenon that they were covered with its spray, and well nigh deafened by the incessant roar. But crossing in the very front of the fall, and at scarce three yards distance from the cataract, an old oak-tree, flung across the chasm in a manner that seemed accidental, formed a bridge of fear-


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 bottom of the waterfall, and hid from sight the dark pool which received its tortured waters; far beneath, at the distance of, perhaps, a quarter of a mile, the eye caught the winding of the stream as it emerged into a more open course. But, for that distance, they were lost to sight as much as if a cavern had been arched over them; and indeed the steep and projecting ledges of rock through which they wound their way in darkness, were very nearly closing and over-roofing their course.

While Morton gazed at this scene of tumult, which seemed, by the surrounding thickets and the clefts into which the waters descended, to seek to hide itself from every eye, his little attendant, as she stood beside him on the platform of rock which commanded the best view of the fall, pulled him by the sleeve, and said, in a tone which he could not hear without stooping his ear near the speaker, "Hear till him! Eh! hear till him!"


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 brook, though without tracing its windings. The landscape, as they advanced, turned waster and more wild, until nothing but heath and rock encumbered the side of the valley.

"Is the place still distant ?" said Morton.

"Nearly a mile off," answered the girl. "We'll be there belive."

"And do you often go this wild journey, my little maid?"

"When grannie sends me wi' milk and meal to the Linn," answered the child.

"And are you not afraid to travel so wild a road alone?"

"Hout na, sir," replied the guide; "nae living creature wad touch sic a bit thing as I am, and grannie says we need never fear ony thing else when we are doing a gude-turn."

"Strong in innocence as in triple mail!", said Morton to himself, and followed her steps in silence.


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the morning began to appear on the mountains, a gentle knock was heard at the door of the humble apartment in which Morton slept, and a girlish treble voice asked him from without, "If he wad please gang to the Linn or the folk raise?"

He arose upon the invitation, and, dressing himself hastily, went forth and joined his little guide. The mountain maid tript lightly before him, through the grey haze, over hill and moor. It was a wild and varied walk, unmarked by any regular or distinguishable track, and keeping, upon the whole, the direction of the ascent of the


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Rh

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196

Then said the noble sovereign: “Doth any one of you

The people of the Rhine-land and eke the country know?”

Good Rüdeger made answer, who from Bechlaren came:

I’ve known her from her childhood, this queen of noble name.

“King Gunther and King Gernot, the noble knights and brave,

And Giselher, the third one,— each ever doth behave

In such wise as high honour and virtue too have taught;

Nor elsewise from aforetime have their forefathers wrought.”

But furthermore said Etzel: “Friend, I would learn of thee

If in my land she ’s worthy to wear the crown with me?

And if she ’s fair of body as has to me been said?—

Then those to me most friendly, need never be dismay’d.”

“Indeed unto my lady in beauty likeneth she,

To Helka, the most mighty; ay! in this world could be

For any king whatever never a wife more fair.

To whom her love she plighteth he may be of good cheer.”

He spake: “Then win her, Rüdeger, if dear to thee am I.

And if beside Kriemhilda it e’er be mine to lie,

I will reward thee for it as fully as may be;—

Seeing thou wilt my wishes have compass’d thoroughly.

“So much out of my treasure I’ll have bestow’d on thee

That thou and thy companions may live right merrily;

Of horses and of raiment whatever you may need,

I will have for your journey made ready with all speed.”


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XX.]

Sir Rüdeger made answer: —a mighty margrave he—

“Did I thy riches covet, that were unpraiseworthy.

Unto the Rhine thy message to bear I shall be glad

At charge of mine own fortune, which from thy hands I had.”

Then spake the mighty sovereign: “Now when wilt thou fare hence

To seek this lovely lady? May God give thee defence

And honour in the journey, and eke this lady mine,

May she to us, luck helping, a gracious ear incline.”

Then Rüdeger spake further: “Ere yet we leave the land,

We must prepare both raiment and weapons to our hand,

That so before the princes due honour we may have.

I’ll lead unto the Rhine-land five hundred warriors brave.

“So, me and mine beholding, the men of Burgundy

Shall every man among them be fain to testify

That ne’er from king in those parts on such a journey went

So many men or better than thou to the Rhine hast sent.

“And be it not displeasing by thee, great ruler, found

That, noble love obeying, she was in wedlock bound

To Siegfried, son of Siegmund; him hast thou here beheld.

In honour great he must be in truth for ever held.”

Then said King Etzel: “Though she was wife unto that knight,

Yet was his noble body so precious in my sight,

That on the queen I cannot e’er look disdainfully;

By her exceeding beauty right well she pleaseth me.”


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