Part 17 (1/2)
”Let him shoot me down!” cried the lad, defiantly. He had heard the whole of the whisper.
The good-hearted merchant shook his head reprovingly.
”Keep your temper, my son; anger is mischievous. It would be much better if you left these parts for a little while, and Milieva can go back in the mean time and pacify her father. I should mention, however, that Kasi Mollah is preparing a rope in salt-water, with which he intends to beat her.”
”What!” cried Thomar, with flas.h.i.+ng eyes. ”He would whip her again, and with a rope?”
He could say no more. The two children fell upon each other's necks and wept bitterly.
”Poor children! orphans worthy of compa.s.sion!” cried the sympathetic Leonidas, stroking their pretty heads. ”It is plain that they have no mother. Willingly would I shed my blood for you. But it is vain to speak to that savage madman. The last thing he said was that your mother had been faithless to him, and that was why he was so furious against you.”
”Then he shall never see us again,” said the lad, tenderly embracing his sister. ”I will go away, and I will take you with me.”
”Where?” said his sister, trembling.
”The world is wide,” said the lad. ”I have often seen from the summits of the mountains how far it stretches away. I will go away as far as ever I can.”
”But what provision have you got?” inquired the worthy merchant.
At this idea the lad seemed to hesitate, and for a moment his face flushed red; but he soon recovered his _sang-froid_.
”You complained the other day that your a.s.s-driver had run away, and that you had all the trouble of looking after the beasts yourself.
Take me for your a.s.s-driver. I will do all your work for you, and I will ask nothing except that Milieva may come with me without doing any hard work. I will work extra in her stead.”
The merchant was quite overcome by these words.
”O children, what words must I hear! Thou art the pearl of youths, my son. What a pity thou wast not born in Samos, the isle of heroes! Thou shalt be no a.s.s-driver of mine; no, thou shalt be my own son, and thy sister shall be my own daughter, and ye shall both sit on my a.s.ses, not follow after them. In the neighboring village I shall get a.s.s-drivers and to spare. I will share my last crumb with you, and ye shall dwell at home within my palace as if ye were my own children.”
And with that he embraced them both.
As for the children, they were overpowered by so much unexpected goodness, and did not hesitate to accept the offer, although Milieva said, somewhat tremulously:
”But you will take us back afterwards to our father, won't you?”
”Certainly; is he not my good friend? When we get to my house I will let him know that you are with me, and he will be very glad. But first we will go from here to splendid cities by the sea, where edifices three stories high float on the surface of the water. There my great palaces are--you could put the whole of your father's house inside the hall of any one of them--and my gardens are full of those beautiful fruits which I have so often brought for you in my sack. Thomar shall have a beautiful steed. You would like to ride a horse, my son, eh?
Well, don't be afraid, and it shall fly away with you like the wind.
And it shall have a mane as white as a swan's--or perhaps you'd like a black one? I have got both, and you shall sit on which you like, with a sword dangling at your side. And when you draw that sword? Ah, ha!
It shall be a bright Damascus blade, and you will be able to make it span your body right round without breaking. I will bet anything that among five hundred Turkish youths you will carry off the wreath of pearls in the sports. How nicely that wreath of pearls will become Milieva's head! How beautifully the folds of the silken robe embroidered with flowers will sweep around her slim figure! And then the palm-leaf shawl when she dances! Eh, children?”
”When will you take us back to our father?” inquired the girl, sorrowfully.
”Why, at once, of course. As soon as Thomar has become a famous man; as soon as half the world recognizes him as a valiant bey, and the fame of him spreads to the huts of Himri likewise. Then will Thomar go with you to your father. He will sit on a proudly prancing horse, tossing its head impatiently beneath its gold trappings. A grand retinue will come riding behind him--valiant heroes, all of them, with glittering s.h.i.+elds and lances. And after them will follow a litter on two white a.s.ses, with curtains of cloth of gold, and in this litter will sit a wondrously bright and beautiful maiden, and men will stand at all the gates and cry, 'Make way for the valiant lord and the majestic lady!'
”But, meanwhile, old Kasi Mollah will be sitting at his door, and, perceiving the splendid magnates, will do obeisance to them; then you will leap from your horse, a.s.sist Milieva to descend from her litter, and will go to meet him. He, however, will not recognize you. Milieva will be so much rosier, and her figure so much more lovely; and as for you, you will be wearing a beard and mustache, and without doubt you will be scarred with wounds received upon the field of glory. So Kasi Mollah will conduct you into his house with the utmost respect and make you sit down; but you will have victuals and sherbet brought from your carriages, and will constrain him to eat and drink with you. Then you will fall a-talking, and you will ask him whether he has any children, and thereupon the tears will start to his eyes.”
”Oh,” sighed the girl, melting at the thought.
”No, no; it would not do at all to make yourself known all at once.