The Talisman

S >> Sir Walter Scott >> The Talisman

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30

The hermit followed the ladies from the pavilion of Richard, as
shadow follows a beam of sunshine when the clouds are driving
over the face of the sun. But he turned on the threshold, and
held up his hand towards the King in a warning, or almost a
menacing posture, as he said, "Woe to him who rejects the counsel
of the church, and betaketh himself to the foul divan of the
infidel! King Richard, I do not yet shake the dust from my feet
and depart from thy encampment; the sword falls not--but it hangs
but by a hair. Haughty monarch, we shall meet again."

"Be it so, haughty priest," returned Richard, "prouder in thy
goatskins than princes in purple and fine linen."

The hermit vanished from the tent, and the King continued,
addressing the Arabian, "Do the dervises of the East, wise Hakim,
use such familiarity with their princes?"

"The dervise," replied Adonbec, "should be either a sage or a
madman; there is no middle course for him who wears the khirkhah,
[Literally, the torn robe. The habit of the dervises is so
called.] who watches by night, and fasts by day. Hence hath he
either wisdom enough to bear himself discreetly in the presence
of princes; or else, having no reason bestowed on him, he is not
responsible for his own actions."

"Methinks our monks have adopted chiefly the latter character,"
said Richard. "But to the matter. In what can I pleasure you,
my learned physician?"

"Great King," said El Hakim, making his profound Oriental
obeisance, "let thy servant speak one word, and yet live. I
would remind thee that thou owest--not to me, their humble
instrument--but to the Intelligences, whose benefits I dispense
to mortals, a life--"

"And I warrant me thou wouldst have another in requital, ha?"
interrupted the King.

"Such is my humble prayer," said the Hakim, "to the great Melech
Ric--even the life of this good knight, who is doomed to die, and
but for such fault as was committed by the Sultan Adam, surnamed
Aboulbeschar, or the father of all men."

"And thy wisdom might remind thee, Hakim, that Adam died for it,"
said the King, somewhat sternly, and then began to pace the
narrow space of his tent with some emotion, and to talk to
himself. "Why, God-a-mercy, I knew what he desired as soon as
ever he entered the pavilion! Here is one poor life justly
condemned to extinction, and I, a king and a soldier, who have
slain thousands by my command, and scores with my own hand, am to
have no power over it, although the honour of my arms, of my
house, of my very Queen, hath been attainted by the culprit. By
Saint George, it makes me laugh! By Saint Louis, it reminds me
of Blondel's tale of an enchanted castle, where the destined
knight was withstood successively in his purpose of entrance by
forms and figures the most dissimilar, but all hostile to his
undertaking! No sooner one sunk than another appeared! Wife
--kinswoman--hermit--Hakim-each appears in the lists as soon as
the other is defeated! Why, this is a single knight fighting
against the whole MELEE of the tournament--ha! ha! ha!" And
Richard laughed aloud; for he had, in fact, begun to change his
mood, his resentment being usually too violent to be of long
endurance.

The physician meanwhile looked on him with a countenance of
surprise, not unmingled with contempt; for the Eastern people
make no allowance for these mercurial changes in the temper, and
consider open laughter, upon almost any account, as derogatory to
the dignity of man, and becoming only to women and children. At
length the sage addressed the King when he saw him more
composed:--

"A doom of death should not issue from laughing lips. Let thy
servant hope that thou hast granted him this man's life."

"Take the freedom of a thousand captives instead," said Richard;
"restore so many of thy countrymen to their tents and families,
and I will give the warrant instantly. This man's life can avail
thee nothing, and it is forfeited."

"All our lives are forfeited," said the Hakim, putting his hand
to his cap. "But the great Creditor is merciful, and exacts not
the pledge rigorously nor untimely."

"Thou canst show me," said Richard, "no special interest thou
hast to become intercessor betwixt me and the execution of
justice, to which I am sworn as a crowned king."

"Thou art sworn to the dealing forth mercy as well as justice,"
said El Hakim; "but what thou seekest, great King, is the
execution of thine own will. And for the concern I have in this
request, know that many a man's life depends upon thy granting
this boon."

"Explain thy words," said Richard; "but think not to impose upon
me by false pretexts."

"Be it far from thy servant!" said Adonbec. "Know, then, that
the medicine to which thou, Sir King, and many one besides, owe
their recovery, is a talisman, composed under certain aspects of
the heavens, when the Divine Intelligences are most propitious.
I am but the poor administrator of its virtues. I dip it in a
cup of water, observe the fitting hour to administer it to the
patient, and the potency of the draught works the cure."

"A most rare medicine," said the King, "and a commodious! and,
as it may be carried in the leech's purse, would save the whole
caravan of camels which they require to convey drugs and physic
stuff; I marvel there is any other in use."

"It is written," answered the Hakim, with imperturbable gravity,
"'Abuse not the steed which hath borne thee from the battle.'
Know that such talismans might indeed be framed, but rare has
been the number of adepts who have dared to undertake the
application of their virtue. Severe restrictions, painful
observances, fasts, and penance, are necessary on the part of the
sage who uses this mode of cure; and if, through neglect of these
preparations, by his love of ease, or his indulgence of sensual
appetite, he omits to cure at least twelve persons within the
course of each moon, the virtue of the divine gift departs from
the amulet, and both the last patient and the physician will be
exposed to speedy misfortune, neither will they survive the year.
I require yet one life to make up the appointed number."

"Go out into the camp, good Hakim, where thou wilt find a-many,"
said the King, "and do not seek to rob my headsman of HIS
patients; it is unbecoming a mediciner of thine eminence to
interfere with the practice of another. Besides, I cannot see
how delivering a criminal from the death he deserves should go to
make up thy tale of miraculous cures."

"When thou canst show why a draught of cold water should have
cured thee when the most precious drugs failed," said the Hakim,
"thou mayest reason on the other mysteries attendant on this
matter. For myself, I am inefficient to the great work, having
this morning touched an unclean animal. Ask, therefore, no
further questions; it is enough that, by sparing this man's life
at my request, you will deliver yourself, great King, and thy
servant, from a great danger."

"Hark thee, Adonbec," replied the King, "I have no objection that
leeches should wrap their words in mist, and pretend to derive
knowledge from the stars; but when you bid Richard Plantagenet
fear that a danger will fall upon HIM from some idle omen, or
omitted ceremonial, you speak to no ignorant Saxon, or doting old
woman, who foregoes her purpose because a hare crosses the path,
a raven croaks, or a cat sneezes."

"I cannot hinder your doubt of my words," said Adonbec; "but yet
let my Lord the King grant that truth is on the tongue of his
servant--will he think it just to deprive the world, and every
wretch who may suffer by the pains which so lately reduced him to
that couch, of the benefit of this most virtuous talisman, rather
than extend his forgiveness to one poor criminal? Bethink you,
Lord King, that, though thou canst slay thousands, thou canst not
restore one man to health. Kings have the power of Satan to
torment, sages that of Allah to heal--beware how thou hinderest
the good to humanity which thou canst not thyself render. Thou
canst cut off the head, but not cure the aching tooth."

"This is over-insolent," said the King, hardening himself, as the
Hakim assumed a more lofty and almost a commanding tone. "We
took thee for our leech, not for our counsellor or conscience-keeper."

"And is it thus the most renowned Prince of Frangistan repays
benefit done to his royal person?" said El Hakim, exchanging the
humble and stooping posture in which he had hitherto solicited
the King, for an attitude lofty and commanding. "Know, then," he
said, "that: through every court of Europe and Asia--to Moslem
and Nazarene--to knight and lady--wherever harp is heard and
sword worn --wherever honour is loved and infamy detested--to
every quarter of the world--will I denounce thee, Melech Ric, as
thankless and ungenerous; and even the lands--if there be any
such--that never heard of thy renown shall yet be acquainted with
thy shame!"

"Are these terms to me, vile infidel?" said Richard, striding
up to him in fury. "Art weary of thy life?"

"Strike!" said El Hakim; "thine own deed shall then paint thee
more worthless than could my words, though each had a hornet's
sting."

Richard turned fiercely from him, folded his arms, traversed the
tent as before, and then exclaimed, "Thankless and ungenerous!
--as well be termed coward and infidel! Hakim, thou hast chosen
thy boon; and though I had rather thou hadst asked my crown
jewels, yet I may not, kinglike, refuse thee. Take this Scot,
therefore, to thy keeping; the provost will deliver him to thee
on this warrant."

He hastily traced one or two lines, and gave them to the
physician. "Use him as thy bond-slave, to be disposed of as thou
wilt--only, let him beware how he comes before the eyes of
Richard. Hark thee--thou art wise--he hath been over-bold among
those in whose fair looks and weak judgments we trust our honour,
as you of the East lodge your treasures in caskets of silver
wire, as fine and as frail as the web of a gossamer."

"Thy servant understands the words of the King," said the sage,
at once resuming the reverent style of address in which he had
commenced. "When the rich carpet is soiled, the fool pointeth to
the stain--the wise man covers it with his mantle. I have heard
my lord's pleasure, and to hear is to obey."

"It is well," said the King; "let him consult his own safety, and
never appear in my presence more. Is there aught else in which I
may do thee pleasure?"

"The bounty of the King hath filled my cup to the brim," said the
sage--" yea, it hath been abundant as the fountain which sprung
up amid the camp of the descendants of Israel when the rock was
stricken by the rod of Moussa Ben Amram."

"Ay, but," said the King, smiling, "it required, as in the
desert, a hard blow on the rock ere it yielded its treasures. I
would that I knew something to pleasure thee, which I might yield
as freely as the natural fountain sends forth its waters."

"Let me touch that victorious hand," said the sage, "in token
that if Adonbec el Hakim should hereafter demand a boon of
Richard of England, he may do so, yet plead his command."

"Thou hast hand and glove upon it, man," replied Richard; "only,
if thou couldst consistently make up thy tale of patients without
craving me to deliver from punishment those who have deserved it,
I would more willingly discharge my debt in some other form."

"May thy days be multiplied!" answered the Hakim, and withdrew
from the apartment after the usual deep obeisance.

King Richard gazed after him as he departed, like one but half-satisfied with what had passed.

"Strange pertinacity," he said, "in this Hakim, and a wonderful
chance to interfere between that audacious Scot and the
chastisement he has merited so richly. Yet let him live! there
is one brave man the more in the world. And now for the
Austrian. Ho! is the Baron of Gilsland there without?"

Sir Thomas de Vaux thus summoned, his bulky form speedily
darkened the opening of the pavilion, while behind him glided as
a spectre, unannounced, yet unopposed, the savage form of the
hermit of Engaddi, wrapped in his goatskin mantle.

Richard, without noticing his presence, called in a loud tone to
the baron, "Sir Thomas de Vaux, of Lanercost and Gilsland, take
trumpet and herald, and go instantly to the tent of him whom they
call Archduke of Austria, and see that it be when the press of
his knights and vassals is greatest around him, as is likely at
this hour, for the German boar breakfasts ere he hears mass--
enter his presence with as little reverence as thou mayest, and
impeach him, on the part of Richard of England, that he hath this
night, by his own hand, or that of others, stolen from its staff
the Banner of England. Wherefore say to him our pleasure that
within an hour from the time of my speaking he restore the said
banner with all reverence--he himself and his principal barons
waiting the whilst with heads uncovered, and without their robes
of honour. And that, moreover, he pitch beside it, on the one
hand, his own Banner of Austria reversed, as that which hath been
dishonoured by theft and felony, and on the other, a lance,
bearing the bloody head of him who was his nearest counsellor, or
assistant, in this base injury. And say, that such our behests
being punctually discharged we will, for the sake of our vow and
the weal of the Holy Land, forgive his other forfeits."

"And how if the Duke of Austria deny all accession to this act of
wrong and of felony?" said Thomas de Vaux.

"Tell him," replied the King, "we will prove it upon his body
--ay, were he backed with his two bravest champions. Knightlike
will we prove it, on foot or on horse, in the desert or in the
field, time, place, and arms all at his own choice."

"Bethink you of the peace of God and the church, my liege lord,"
said the Baron of Gilsland, "among those princes engaged in this
holy Crusade."

"Bethink you how to execute my commands, my liege vassal,"
answered Richard impatiently. "Methinks men expect to turn our
purpose by their breath, as boys blow feathers to and fro. Peace
of the church! Who, I prithee, minds it? The peace of the
church, among Crusaders, implies war with the Saracens, with whom
the princes have made truce; and the one ends with the other.
And besides, see you not how every prince of them is seeking his
own several ends? I will seek mine also--and that is honour.
For honour I came hither; and if I may not win it upon the
Saracens, at least I will not lose a jot from any respect to this
paltry Duke, though he were bulwarked and buttressed by every
prince in the Crusade."

De Vaux turned to obey the King's mandate, shrugging his
shoulders at the same time, the bluntness of his nature being
unable to conceal that its tenor went against his judgment. But
the hermit of Engaddi stepped forward, and assumed the air of one
charged with higher commands than those of a mere earthly
potentate. Indeed, his dress of shaggy skins, his uncombed and
untrimmed hair and beard, his lean, wild, and contorted features,
and the almost insane fire which gleamed from under his bushy
eyebrows, made him approach nearly to our idea of some seer of
Scripture, who, charged with high mission to the sinful Kings of
Judah or Israel, descended from the rocks and caverns in which he
dwelt in abstracted solitude, to abash earthly tyrants in the
midst of their pride, by discharging on them the blighting
denunciations of Divine Majesty, even as the cloud discharges the
lightnings with which it is fraught on the pinnacles and towers
of castles and palaces. In the midst of his most wayward mood,
Richard respected the church and its ministers; and though
offended at the intrusion of the hermit into his tent, he greeted
him with respect--at the same time, however, making a sign to Sir
Thomas de Vaux to hasten on his message.

But the hermit prohibited the baron, by gesture, look, and word,
to stir a yard on such an errand; and holding up his bare arm,
from which the goatskin mantle fell back in the violence of his
action, he waved it aloft, meagre with famine, and wealed with
the blows of the discipline.

"In the name of God, and of the most holy Father, the vicegerent
of the Christian Church upon earth, I prohibit this most profane,
bloodthirsty, and brutal defiance betwixt two Christian princes,
whose shoulders are signed with the blessed mark under which they
swore brotherhood. Woe to him by whom it is broken!--Richard of
England, recall the most unhallowed message thou hast given to
that baron. Danger and death are nigh thee!--the dagger is
glancing at thy very throat!--"

"Danger and death are playmates to Richard," answered the Monarch
proudly; "and he hath braved too many swords to fear a dagger."

"Danger and death are near," replied the seer, and sinking his
voice to a hollow, unearthly tone, he added, "And after death the
judgment!"

"Good and holy father," said Richard, "I reverence thy person and
thy sanctity--"

"Reverence not me!" interrupted the hermit; "reverence sooner
the vilest insect that crawls by the shores of the Dead Sea, and
feeds upon its accursed slime. But reverence Him whose commands
I speak--reverence Him whose sepulchre you have vowed to rescue
--revere the oath of concord which you have sworn, and break not
the silver cord of union and fidelity with which you have bound
yourself to your princely confederates."

"Good father," said the King, "you of the church seem to me to
presume somewhat, if a layman may say so much, upon the dignity
of your holy character. Without challenging your right to take
charge of our conscience, methinks you might leave us the charge
of our own honour."

"Presume!" repeated the hermit. "Is it for me to presume, royal
Richard, who am but the bell obeying the hand of the sexton--but
the senseless and worthless trumpet carrying the command of him
who sounds it? See, on my knees I throw myself before thee,
imploring thee to have mercy on Christendom, on England, and on
thyself!"

"Rise, rise," said Richard, compelling him to stand up; "it
beseems not that knees which are so frequently bended to the
Deity should press the ground in honour of man. What danger
awaits us, reverend father? and when stood the power of England
so low that the noisy bluster of this new-made Duke's displeasure
should alarm her or her monarch?"

"I have looked forth from my mountain turret upon the starry host
of heaven, as each in his midnight circuit uttered wisdom to
another, and knowledge to the few who can understand their voice.
There sits an enemy in thy House of Life, Lord King, malign at
once to thy fame and thy prosperity--an emanation of Saturn,
menacing thee with instant and bloody peril, and which, but thou
yield thy proud will to the rule of thy duty, will presently
crush thee even in thy pride."

"Away, away--this is heathen science," said the King. "Christians
practise it not--wise men believe it not. Old man, thou dotest."

"I dote not, Richard," answered the hermit--"I am not so happy.
I know my condition, and that some portion of reason is yet
permitted me, not for my own use, but that of the Church and the
advancement of the Cross. I am the blind man who holds a torch
to others, though it yields no light to himself. Ask me touching
what concerns the weal of Christendom, and of this Crusade, and I
will speak with thee as the wisest counsellor on whose tongue
persuasion ever sat. Speak to me of my own wretched being, and
my words shall be those of the maniac outcast which I am."

"I would not break the bands of unity asunder among the princes
of the Crusade," said Richard, with a mitigated tone and manner;
"but what atonement can they render me for the injustice and
insult which I have sustained?"

"Even of that I am prepared and commissioned to speak by the
Council, which, meeting hastily at the summons of Philip of
France, have taken measures for that effect."

"Strange," replied Richard, "that others should treat of what is
due to the wounded majesty of England!"

"They are willing to anticipate your demands, if it be possible,"
answered the hermit. "In a body, they consent that the Banner of
England be replaced on Saint George's Mount; and they lay under
ban and condemnation the audacious criminal, or criminals, by
whom it was outraged, and will announce a princely reward to any
who shall denounce the delinquent's guilt, and give his flesh to
the wolves and ravens."

"And Austria," said Richard, "upon whom rest such strong
presumptions that he was the author of the deed?"

"To prevent discord in the host," replied the hermit, "Austria
will clear himself of the suspicion by submitting to whatsoever
ordeal the Patriarch of Jerusalem shall impose."

"Will he clear himself by the trial by combat?" said King
Richard.

"His oath prohibits it," said the hermit; "and, moreover, the
Council of the Princes--"

"Will neither authorize battle against the Saracens," interrupted
Richard, "nor against any one else. But it is enough, father--
thou hast shown me the folly of proceeding as I designed in this
matter. You shall sooner light your torch in a puddle of rain
than bring a spark out of a cold-blooded coward. There is no
honour to be gained on Austria, and so let him pass. I will have
him perjure himself, however; I will insist on the ordeal. How I
shall laugh to hear his clumsy fingers hiss, as he grasps the
red-hot globe of iron! Ay, or his huge mouth riven, and his
gullet swelling to suffocation, as he endeavours to swallow the
consecrated bread!"

"Peace, Richard," said the hermit--"oh, peace, for shame, if not
for charity! Who shall praise or honour princes who insult and
calumniate each other? Alas! that a creature so noble as thou
art--so accomplished in princely thoughts and princely daring--so
fitted to honour Christendom by thy actions, and, in thy calmer
mood, to rule her by thy wisdom, should yet have the brute and
wild fury of the lion mingled with the dignity and courage of
that king of the forest!"

He remained an instant musing with his eyes fixed on the ground,
and then proceeded--"But Heaven, that knows our imperfect nature,
accepts of our imperfect obedience, and hath delayed, though not
averted, the bloody end of thy daring life. The destroying angel
hath stood still, as of old by the threshing-floor of Araunah the
Jebusite, and the blade is drawn in his hand, by which, at no
distant date, Richard, the lion-hearted, shall be as low as the
meanest peasant."

"Must it, then, be so soon?" said Richard. "Yet, even so be it.
May my course be bright, if it be but brief!"

"Alas! noble King," said the solitary, and it seemed as if a
tear (unwonted guest) were gathering in his dry and glazened eye,
"short and melancholy, marked with mortification, and calamity,
and captivity, is the span that divides thee from the grave which
yawns for thee--a grave in which thou shalt be laid without
lineage to succeed thee--without the tears of a people, exhausted
by thy ceaseless wars, to lament thee-- without having extended
the knowledge of thy subjects-- without having done aught to
enlarge their happiness."

"But not without renown, monk--not without the tears of the lady
of my love! These consolations, which thou canst neither know
nor estimate, await upon Richard to his grave."

"DO I not know, CAN I not estimate the value of minstrel's praise
and of lady's love?" retorted the hermit, in a tone which for a
moment seemed to emulate the enthusiasm of Richard himself.
"King of England," he continued, extending his emaciated arm,
"the blood which boils in thy blue veins is not more noble than
that which stagnates in mine. Few and cold as the drops are,
they still are of the blood of the royal Lusignan--of the heroic
and sainted Godfrey. I am--that is, I was when in the world--
Alberick Mortemar--"

"Whose deeds," said Richard, "have so often filled Fame's
trumpet! Is it so?--can it be so? Could such a light as thine
fall from the horizon of chivalry, and yet men be uncertain where
its embers had alighted?"

"Seek a fallen star," said the hermit, "and thou shalt only light
on some foul jelly, which, in shooting through the horizon, has
assumed for a moment an appearance of splendour. Richard, if I
thought that rending the bloody veil from my horrible fate could
make thy proud heart stoop to the discipline of the church, I
could find in my heart to tell thee a tale, which I have hitherto
kept gnawing at my vitals in concealment, like the self-devoted
youth of heathenesse. Listen, then, Richard, and may the grief
and despair which cannot avail this wretched remnant of what was
once a man be powerful as an example to so noble, yet so wild, a
being as thou art! Yes--I will--I WILL tear open the long-hidden
wounds, although in thy very presence they should bleed to
death!"

King Richard, upon whom the history of Alberick of Mortemar had
made a deep impression in his early years, when minstrels were
regaling his father's halls with legends of the Holy Land,
listened with respect to the outlines of a tale, which, darkly
and imperfectly sketched, indicated sufficiently the cause of the
partial insanity of this singular and most unhappy being.

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30