Volume I Part 17 (1/2)
”Dear friar, teach me to read and understand that book, for my breast yearneth to know more about it. I am, it is true, not my own at present to give, but I have some forebodings here that tell me I soon shall; and, father, I will serve thee, and be thy handmaid, if thou wilt teach me the words and the mysteries of that little book.”
”Alas! and wo is me, for the ignorance of my people!” said he, with the tears streaming over his grim cheek; ”they are troubled about that which availeth them nothing, while the way of life is hid from their eyes.
Their leaders have caused them to err; and I, even I, have been a dweller in the tabernacles of sin! But the day-star hath shone upon my soul and my spirit: For that have I been persecuted, and hunted as a partridge upon the mountains, chased from the habitations of my brethren, and forced to dwell among a strange and savage people. Yet there are among them whom I love; and could I be the mean of opening thine eyes, and turning thee from darkness unto light, then would I know for what purpose the finger of heaven had pointed out my way to this barren wilderness. Thou can'st not be a servant or a handmaiden unto one who is little better than an outcast and a vagabond on the earth. But better days may come to us both: I am not what I seem; but, maiden, thou mayest trust me. My love for thee surpa.s.seth the love of women, for it is with more than an earthly love that I behold and delight in thee.
Come unto me this night, and I will tell thee things that shall make thine ears tingle. The book of wonders is here with me, and thou mayest look thereon and be glad.”
The poet and his a.s.sociates listened to this rhapsody apart.
”What book does he mean?” said the poet: ”If it is not True Thomas's book, or the book of Sir Gawin, he must be speaking absolute nonsense. I could recite these to lovely Delany, word for word; and must this clumsy old friar wile her from me by any better book than these?”
”You are clean mista'en, maister poeter,” said Tam; ”I ken mair about auld Roger than you do, or than ony that's here. It is a book o' black art that he carries about wi' him, and studies on it night and day. He gat it at a place they ca' Oxford, where they study nought else but sic cantrips. They hae tried to hang him, and they hae tried to cut off his head, and they hae tried to burn him at the stake; but tow wadna hang, water wadna drown, steel wadna nick, and a' the fire o' the land wadna singe ae hair o' the auld loun's head.”
”Gude forgie me!” said Charlie: ”An that be true, Corby, you and I had maybe mair pith than our ain yon time. I wondered that he rade sae furiously on the drawn swords of men and armour, the auld warlock.
He-he-he! we'll aiblins try auld Michael at his ain weapons, an that be the gate.”
”Ye maunna lippen ower muckle to a' this,” said he of the Peatstacknowe; ”else ye may play like Marion's Jock, when he gaed away to douk in Commonside loch. 'It is a hard matter,' says Jock to himself, 'that a'
the lave o' Commonside's men can swatter and swim in the loch like sae mony drakes but me. I am fain either to poutter about the side, or down I gang. I can neither sink nor swim; for when I try to get to the bottom to creep, there I stick like a woundit paddock, wagging my arms and my legs, and can neither get to the top nor the bottom. Just half way, there stick I. But I's be even hands wi' them an' mair, an' then I'll laugh at the leishest o' them; for I'll stand, and wade, and gang ower the waves afore them a', aye, and that wi' my head boonmost.' Jock, after this grand contrivance, coudna rest, but off he sets to Hawick, and gets four big blawn bladders; and the next day, when a' the lave went to bathe, Jock he went to bathe amang the rest; and he gangs slyly into a bush by himsel', and ties twa o' the bladders to every foot.
'Now,' thinks Jock, 'I'll let them see a trick.' Sae he slips into the loch, and wades into the deep; but the bladders they aye gart him hobble and bob up and down, till, faith, he loses the balance, and ower he coups. Nane o' them kend o' Jock's great plan, and they were a' like to burst their sides wi' laughing when they saw Jock diving. But when they saw he wasna like to come up again, they swattered away to the place, and there was Jock swimming wi' his head straight to the bottom, and his feet and the four bladders walking a minuay aboon. Now, let me tell ye, an ye lippen to the friar's warlockry, and his enchantments, and divinations, ye trust to as mony bladders fu' o' wind, and down gae a'
your heads, and your heels uppermost. Na, na; nane maun try to cope wi'
auld Michael.”
”I hae heard, indeed, that he coudna brook ony rivalry,” said Charlie; ”and I hae heard waur instances, and waur stories too, than that o'
yours, laird. But let us draw slyly near to the twasome, and make lang lugs, to try if we can learn ony mair about that same beuk. If the friar hae ony power o' enchantment, it is my opinion the first glamour he'll thraw will be ower that bonny wench.”
”We ought to keep them asunder by force,” said the poet; ”it would be a shame and a disgrace to us, if we were to let the auld rogue seduce either her person or her morals.”
”Morals?” said Charlie; ”I dinna ken about them, for I watna weel what they are; but as to seducing hersel', I think I could answer for auld Roger the friar. I see there's nae man can help liking a bonny la.s.s; but the better a good man likes ane he'll be the mair sweer to do her ony skaith.”
”Aye; but then how can an enchanter be a good man?” said the poet.
”That's the thing that puzzles me,” said Charlie: ”Let us hear what they are on about sae briskly now.”
They then drew near, and heard the following words, while the remarks that they made were said aside among themselves.
”My fate, you see, has been a strange one, father. I was separated from my parents so young that I scarcely remember them. But the Scots have been kind to me, and I have loved them. I have never been unhappy, except when long confined to a place, which I dislike exceedingly; and as I have hopes that this change will add somewhat to my freedom, I rejoice in it, without weighing circ.u.mstances. If those fond hopes should be realised, I promise to you, father, that the first use I will make of my liberty, shall be to sit at your feet, and learn that wonderful and mysterious book.”
”Do you hear that?” said the poet with great emphasis, but in a half whisper; ”he has gotten her broken already to learn the book of the black art. Then the deil's bargain and witchcraft comes next; then the hara.s.sing of the whole country side, dancing in kirkyards, and riding on the wind; and then, mayhap, the stake and the f.a.ggot end the matter that is but just beginning. Alak, and wo is me! I say, in the king's name, and in the warden's, let them be separated.”
”Gude sauf us!” exclaimed Charlie. ”There's nae man sure o' his life an a' this be true! But a' fair play. Nae self amang us. Hist, and let us hear what he is saying in answer.”
”Daughter,” said the friar, half crying with joy, ”doth not my heart yearn over thee, even as a mother yearneth over the child of her bosom?
Lo, I will be unto thee as a father, and thou shalt be unto me as a daughter.”
”Hear what the old rascal is saying!” said the poet.
”And behold the fruits of our labours shall spring up into life;”--
”Oh, this is past all sufferance!” said the poet.
--”For, O thou fair one, whose beauty is as the beauty of the morning, and whose innocence surpa.s.seth that of the kid, or the lamb, or the young roe, when they are playing upon the mountains,”--