[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.When the sweet creature haddrunk, he held out the delicacies, and slowly approached her."Don't fear,little one," he murmured, a man addressing a shy lover.The doe stretched outher neck, and took his offering."From then on," said Ars, "the doe and the oldfou had an understanding.Hefed her, and spoke to her as to a friend.She listened, and the regard of hersoft, brown eyes was more welcome than words."Man and doe lived thus, he feeding her, she easing his loneliness, and bothwere content.Neither pondered the doings of men in the lands beyond but thatdid not mean nothing was happening.Wambo, the Wisigoth, and his chiefs andsons, were not content to lounge about the fountains of Arelate, with fawningservants to bring them wine and fruit.They were forest men who loved to huntwith their great, rangy hounds.One morning, the ground beneath Giles's hut trembled with the impact ofhooves.The silence was shredded by howls of the pack and cries of hunters.The hermit's beloved companion fled.The forest resonated with tramping feet,stamping iron-shod hooves, and shouted orders.Giles covered his ears and shuthis eyes.Page 184ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlWhen he opened them, he saw the doe at the edge of the clearing.Shestaggered toward the spring, her neck wet with fresh blood.She fell.Gilesdragged her to the pool, and washed her terrible wound."Thebiche is ours!" shouted a young chief, pushing through the brush.The old hermit stood his ground."She is neither mine nor yours, but merelyhonors us with her presence."Several Wisigoths laughed."You old fool! Get out of the way and let usfinish her off." One horseman struck him a blow that sent him reeling into thethicket."Call the dogs! Set the hounds on both of them."When the dogs burst from the woods, they ceased howling, and came as one to asudden stop.As if terrified, they stared at Giles, who had regained his placeby the doe.She lay licking her wounds.Bellies against the ground, the dogscrept forward.They surrounded man and doe, then turned outward, and allowedno warrior to approach.Astounded, the Wisigoths sheathed their weapons."Sorcery!" one said."Wemust tell the king." In a thunder of hooves, they rode away.The houndsfollowed.Near dawn, Giles and the doe were awakened by hooves and cries.Wambo hadcome in person to see the madman or sorcerer and the doe.He peered into thehut, and stood looking for a long time.Then he turned his mount and rode off,followed by his horde.* * *"And that," said Ars, "is the story of Giles, as the folk of the villages tellit.There is an addition to the tale, in which Wambo was baptized in thespring.When Giles died, the king commissioned a shrine and a tomb.Thousandsof pilgrims visit there." The old woman's features crinkled like a driedolive."There's no carved sarcophagus for the doe, in that shrine."Pierrette's disappointment showed."What's wrong?" Ars asked."It's a splendid tale, but the one recounting doesn't greatly differ from theother.Nobleman or Wisigoth, it's the same story.""Ah," sighed Ars."You're wise.How did you know there was yet another tale?""Because hidden within the one you told me is a love story," Pierrettereplied, thinking of a stag and a doe in another forest, of love that remainedunconsummated, and ended in tragedy the tragedy she had made of it, with thespear.Yes, Ars's second tale was indeed a romance, but an impossible one, theway she had told it."Then tell it properly," said Ars, "and I'll listen."* * *When the Emperor Constantine issued his edict that all Rome was to worship theChristian God, old spirits trembled, that he had dared utter such a terriblespell.But the empire was large, and Constantine a lesser sorcerer than.than Minho of Thera.and folk did not everywhere take him seriously.Thepoor older gods lingered.Gaul, once the heart of the empire, was far from the new center in Byzantium.Old gods and new coexisted, but when the Wisigoths came, people blamed pagansand heretics for the invasion, wrongly believing their sympathies lay with thePage 185ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlconquerors.He who wore stag's horns departed into the Camargue and made his home besidea spring sacred to Ma.There he dwelt for many years, but he was lonely,having no worshippers and no companion to celebrate the rites
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]