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God's Love |
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A few days passed of uninterrupted travel. The roads were firm and dry, the weather bright and cheering, the region they passed through was fruitful, well populated and picturesque. The gloomy forest of Thuringia lay behind them. The merchants who had often travelled that way, had friends everywhere who received them with cordial hospitality. They avoided lonely places in case of robber bands, and when obliged to pass through such regions, took a numerous convoy.
Some of the owners of mountain castles were on good terms with the merchants, who rode up to them and asked whether they had any commissions for Augsburg. They were always given a friendly reception, and the wives and daughters greeted the strangers also with mingled curiosity and kindness. They were delighted to meet a woman from a town and learn about the latest fashions, and the newest ways of preparing some dainty dish.
Both Knights and ladies praised young Osterdingen's mild and winning manners, the latter especially admired his handsome face, which, like a beautiful bud, gave promise of excellence.
At one of these castles where they arrived at nightfall, a jolly party was assembled. The Knight was an old soldier who was never happy unless the monotony of his lonely life was broken by banquets and festivities. He received the travellers with brotherly warmth, and led them to his noisy guests in the great banquet hall. The mother was put under the care of the lady of the Castle. The Merchants and Heinrich took their place at the long oaken board, where the cup was circulating freely. Heinrich was excused much drinking on account of his youth, but the merchants were quite ready to do justice to the noble wine. The conversation turned on the chances of war, and Heinrich listened eagerly to tales of the Holy Land, the miracles performed at the Holy Sepulchre, the adventures of the Crusaders by land and sea, their fierce onslaughts on the Saracens, and their life in the camp and field.
They expressed burning wrath at the Saracens still defiling the holy ground of Palestine, and praised the noble heroes who had gained the immortal crown in their strife with the unbelievers.
The master of the castle showed the richly mounted sword which he had won in a battle from a Saracen he had killed, whose castle he had burned, and whose wife and children he had taken prisoner. The Emperor as a reward had allowed him to include a Saracen's head on the crest of his Shield.
All admired the splendid sword. Heinrich took it in his hand, and felt seized with a sudden war-like ardour. He kissed it with deepest reverence. This pleased the knight who embraced him, and urged on him the duty of helping to deliver the holy city.
"Consider the matter carefully now my son," said the old knight "a new crusade is about to begin. The Emperor himself will lead us to the east. All hearts are stirring, and all through Europe crowds are hastening to take the cross. Who knows whether in another year we may enter Jerusalem as joyful victors, and you and I may feast together, and think of the old fatherland, and the happy meeting which led you, also, to join the conquerors. You may meet some Eastern maiden too, who may enslave your heart, for their beauty is rare indeed, and after such a conquest there will be a host of prisoners.
The knights then sang a chorus which was the rallying cry of Europe.
The grave stands under wild heaths;
The grave, in which lay the savior,
Must suffer iniquities and [Verspottung]
And becomes [entheiligt] every day.
It complains out with dull voice:
» Whoever saves me of this [Grimme]!«
Where do his hero-disciples remain?
Missing is the Christianity!
Who is the belief [Wiederbringer]?
Who does the cross in this time take?
Whoever breaks the [schimpflichsten] the chains,
And becomes the salvation ' [ge] does grave rescue?
Mightily goes on land and seas
In deep night a fixed ' [ger] storm;
The torpid [Schläfer] to [aufstören],
[Umbraust] he camps, city and tower,
A [Klaggeschrei] about all battlementses:
» On, torpid Christians, pulls of [hinnen].«
It lets angels all places
With serious countenance mute itself [sehn],
And pilgrims see one before the doors
With grief-stricken cheeks [stehn];
You complain with the [bängsten] sounds
The cruelty of the [Sarazenen].
It a morning breaks, red and dull,
Into the Christians' wide land at.
The ache of the [Wehmut] and the love
Announces itself at everyone.
An everyone grasps to cross and swords
And pulls [entflammt] of his herd.
A fire-eagerness rants into the armies,
The grave of the [Heilands] to [befrein].
You hurry happy to the seas,
About soon on fixed ' [gem] reason to be.
Also children comes runs still
And more the consecrated pile.
Highly the cross in the [Siegspaniere] blows,
And old heroes [stehn] before-at.
The paradise [sel] ' [ge Türe]
Becomes devout warriors [aufgetan];
An everyone wants to enjoy the luck
Is blood for Christs to spill.
To the fight their Christian! God flocks
[Ziehn] with into the praising land.
Soon the heaths [Grimm] are experienced
The Christian-God scare-hand.
We wash soon in glad [Mute]
The saint grave with heath-bloods.
The [heilge] virgin hovers, carries
Of angels, if the wild battle,
Where each, that hits the sword,
In their mother-arm awakens.
You incline with glorifies cheek
Down to the [Waffenklange].
Across to the fixed-towards place!
The grave dull voice sounds!
Soon becomes with victory and with prayers
The blame of the Christianity reconciles!
The empire of the heaths will finish itself,
Is first the grave in [unsern] hands.
Heinrich's whole soul was in disorder. The grave in the far off land seemed to his exited imagination like a beautiful unprotected maiden in the hands of an infuriated mob.
Just then his mother sent for him, to present him to the noble Chatelaine. The knights were so deep in their plans for the coming crusade, that they didn't notice his absence.
Heinrich was cordially welcomed by his noble hostess. It was a glorious evening, the sun was sinking, and Heinrich, who was longing for solitude, was glad of her proposal to view the grounds of the castle. He hurried into the open air.
From the high rock on which the castle stood he looked down into a wooded valley, through which ran a stream that turned several mills on its way. Beyond that, there were ranges on ranges of hills and woods. In the presence of nature his agitation subsided, the glories of the sunset woke a thousand fancies, and he longed for a lute to help him to express his feelings, though he neither knew what it was like or how to play it. He scrambled through a copse, over mossy rocks toward the valley, when he was suddenly arrested by the sound of a human voice, accompanied by harmonious chords. He felt sure it must be a lute, and amazed,stood still to listen, and heard in broken German the following song:
Breaks the weak heart still
Under foreign heaven not?
Comes to the hope of wan glimmer
Always I still to face?
Could I think well still return?
[Stromweis] fall my tears,
Until my heart in sorrow breaks.
I could show you the myrtles
And the cedar dark hair!
Led you to the glad dance
The [geschwisterlichen] flock!
[Sähst] you in the Clothes embroiders,
Pride in the delightful [Geschmeide]
Your friend, how they were.
Noble boys [verneigen]
Itself with hot look before their;
Tender chants climb
With the evening-star to me.
The lover might wed one;
[Ewge] Dear ' and Staunchly the women,
Is here the men password.
Here, where about [kristallne] sources
Loving itself the heaven puts,
And with is called balsam-waves
About the grove together-hits,
The in his desire-areas
Under fruits, under blossoms
Thousand colorful singer tends.
Long-distance is that youth-dreams!
Downward the fatherland lies!
For a long time pleases is that trees,
And the old palace burns.
Horribly, how sea-wave
Came pulls a rough army,
And the paradise vanished.
Terrifying gluten flowed
Into the blue air [empor],
And it penetrated on proud horses
A wild flock into the goal.
Sabers clinked, our brothers,
Our father didn't come again,
And one tore us wild forth.
My eyes became dull;
Distant, maternal land,
Oh, they remained you full love
And full longing [zugewandt]!
Was not this child existing,
For a long time [hätt] ' I the life Bound
Dissolves with bold hand.
Heinrich heard the sobbing of a child and a consoling voice.
He hurried down the hill and saw a pale delicate girl sitting under a spreading
oak tree, a pretty child clung to her in tears, a lute lay at her feet.
At the sight of the youth, she started in surprise.
I suppose you heard me singing" she said in a friendly voice. "your face seems well known to me, let me think. The sight of you evokes old memories. You are so like one of my brothers, who after our misfortunes, left us to join a well known Persian poet. Perhaps he still lives, and sings sadly of his sister's fate. Would that I could recall some of the poems that he wrote! He was such a noble youth, none excelled him in poetry and music."
The child, a girl about 10 or 12, looked attentively at the newcomer, while she still embraced Zulima. Heinrich's heart was moved with compassion, he begged the maiden to tell him her story. She seemed willing to do so.
He seated himself opposite her, and listened to her sad tale, which was interrupted by many tears.
She dwelt mainly on her fatherland and her fellow country folk, described their generosity, their susceptibility to the poetry of life, and the wondrous charm of an Eastern existence. She spoke of the picturesque beauty of the Arabian scenery, the oases like happy islands surrounded by sand instead of sea, havens of rest for weary travellers, who would find there, cool springs, streams rippling over sparkling stones, through softest lawns, and found a shelter under thick groves animated by the songs of countless birds of gorgeous plumage. Here and there were strange memorials of the past: ruins still painted with pictures of long vanished scenes, quaint sculpture and mysterious inscriptions, which excited a ceaseless desire to penetrate their hidden message.
The presence of these mementoes of bygone ages arouse a thousand fresh ideas and reflections, and lend a greater charm to the present, for all around speaks of centuries of toil, care and forethought. Nature seems bound up in humanity, the present is permeated with the past, so that one enjoys a double life, a gleam of fable and legend softening all the asperities and difficulties of actual existence. Who knows whether there may not be some inexplicable influence haunting the spot, emanating from the former unseen inhabitants, and perhaps this is the reason why dwellers in a newly discovered country feel so intense a longing to return to their old homes.
After a pause she continued. "Do not believe what you have been told of the cruelty of my people. Nowhere are prisoners treated more generously. The greatest hospitality was shown to your pilgrims to Jerusalem. Unhappily they did not deserve it. Many were scoundrels of the deepest dye, who repaid the kindness shown to them in the most shameful way, and justly deserved their fate. The Christians might well have continued their pilgrimages unmolested, and without provoking the cruel wars which have separated Europe from the East forever. What mattered the nominal ownership of the soil? Our princes honoured the grave of your holy one, whom they looked on as a holy prophet. It would have been an easy task to have made this common feeling a stepping stone to friendly union."
By this time the twilight had faded into night, and the moon rose over the summits of the trees, as they slowly ascended the hill towards the castle. Heinrich was lost in thought, his warlike enthusiasm had evaporated. The world seemed to him a maze of incongruity. The moon shedding her consoling beams over all, raised his mind above the inequalities of earthly life, which however great when seen close at hand, vanish away when viewed from a higher point. Zulima moved silently beside him, leading the child. Heinrich carried the lute. He sought to cheer his companion, and raise her hopes of one day returning to her much-loved home. He felt inclined to devote himself to her service, and deliver her from her slavery, but he knew not how to accomplish it. His sympathising words soothed Zulima, and she thanked him in touching accents for this unexpected concern.
The carousing was at its height in the hall. As they entered the castle, Heinrich felt no desire to join the jovial knights, but sought out his mother, who had passed a quiet evening with the lady of the castle.
Soon after they retired to rest, but not until after Heinrich had told her his strange adventure. They were early to stir, and so were the merchants who had retired betimes from the banquet. The knights were sleeping off their carousing, but the Chatelaine took a friendly leave of the party.
Zulima who had passed a sleepless night, excited by unexpected sympathy, was at her post to wait upon the travellers. As they took leave she brought her lute and offered it to Heinrich. "It was my brothers" she said "He gave it to me when he went away, it is my only relic of the past. It seemed to please you yesterday, and I offer it as a paltry return for words I will never forget, and the hope you have again awoken in my heart. I feel we shall meet again, and in happier days"
Heinrich wept, but he refused to take her precious lute. "Give me the golden ribbon which binds your hair, and on which I see some curious embroidery, unless it is a remembrance of parents or friends."
She handed him the ribbon. It is my name, which I embroidered in the letters of my own tongue. Look at it and remember that it bound my tresses during a sad and weary time. It has faded like its owner."
Heinrich's mother handed him a veil, for which he asked, and he offered it to Zulima as a remembrance, then the women kissed and took leave of each other.