The Knights of the Cross, or, Krzyzacy: Historical Romance
because he also needs favor and help from our lord against his adversary
in Avignon. Therefore in such a crowd, it will be difficult to approach
the king; but if one would be able to see him and bow at his feet, then
he will liberally reward him who deserves it."
"Then I will bow before him, because I have served enough, and if there
is another war, I shall go again. We have taken some booty, and we are
not poor; but I am getting old, and when one is old, and the strength has
left his bones, one is pleased to have a quiet corner."
"The king was glad to see those who returned from Litwa with Jasko of
Olesnica; and they feast well now."
"You see I did not return at that time; I was still at the war. You know
that the Germans have suffered because of that reconciliation between the
king and _Kniaz_ Witold. The prince cunningly got the hostages back, and
then rushed against the Germans! He ruined and burned the castle and
slaughtered the knights and a great many of the people. The Germans
wanted revenge, as did also Swidrygello, who went to them. There was
again a great expedition started. The grand master Kondrat himself went
with a great army; they besieged Wilno, and tried from their towers to
ruin the castles; they also tried to capture the city by treachery--but
they did not succeed! While retreating there were so many killed, that
even half of them did not escape. Then we attacked Ulrich von Jungingen,
the grand master's brother, who is bailiff in Swabja. But the bailiff was
afraid of the _kniaz_ and ran away. On account of this flight there is
peace, and they are rebuilding the city. One pious monk, who could walk
with bare feet on hot iron, has prophesied since that time, that as long
as the world exists, no German soldier will be seen under the walls of
Wilno. And if that be so, then whose hands have done it?"
Having said this, Macko of Bogdaniec, extended his palms, broad and
enormous; the others began to nod and to approve:
"Yes, yes! It's true what he says! Yes!"
But further conversation was interrupted by a noise entering through the
windows from which the bladders had been taken out, because the night was
warm and clear. From afar thrumming, singing, laughing and the snorting
of horses were heard. They were surprised because it was quite late. The
host rushed to the yard of the inn, but before the guests were able to
drink their beer to the last drop, he returned shouting:
"Some court is coming!"
A moment afterward, in the door appeared a footman dressed in a blue
jacket and wearing a red folding cap. He stopped, glanced at the guests,
and then having perceived the host, he said:
"Wipe the tables and prepare lights; the princess, Anna Danuta, will stop
here to-night."
Having said this, he withdrew. In the inn a great commotion began; the
host called his servants, and the guests looked at one another with great
surprise.
"Princess Anna Danuta," said one of the townsmen, "she is
Kiejstutowna,[11] Janusz Mazowiecki's wife. She was in Krakow two weeks,
but she went to Zator to visit Prince Waclaw, and now she is coming
back."
"Uncle Gamroth," said the other townsman, "let us go to the barn and
sleep on the hay; the company is too high for us."
"I don't wonder they are traveling during the night," said Macko,
"because the days are very warm; but why do they come to the inn when the
monastery is so near?"
Here he turned toward Zbyszko:
"The beautiful Ryngalla's own sister; do you understand?"
And Zbyszko answered:
"There must be many Mazovian ladies with her, hej!"
CHAPTER II.
At that moment the princess entered. She was a middle-aged lady with a
smiling face, dressed in a red mantle and light green dress with a golden
girdle around her hips. The princess was followed by the ladies of the
court; some not yet grown up, some of them older; they had pink and lilac
wreaths on their heads, and the majority of them had lutes in their
hands. Some of them carried large bunches of fresh, flowers, evidently
plucked by the roadside. The room was soon filled, because the ladies
were followed by some courtiers and young pages. All were lively, with
mirth on their faces, talking loudly or humming as if they were
intoxicated with the beauty of the night. Among the courtiers, there were
two _rybalts_;[12] one had a lute and the other had a _gensla_[13] at his
girdle. One of the girls who was very young, perhaps twelve years old,
carried behind the princess a very small lute ornamented with brass
nails.
"May Jesus Christ be praised!" said the princess, standing in the centre
of the room.
"For ages and ages, amen!" answered those present, in the meanwhile
saluting very profoundly.
"Where is the host?"
The German having heard the call, advanced to the front and kneeled, in
the German fashion, on one knee.
"We are going to stop here and rest," said the lady. "Only be quick,
because we are hungry."
The townsmen had already gone; now the two noblemen, and with them Macko
of Bogdaniec and young Zbyszko, bowed again, intending to leave the room,
as they did not wish to interfere with the court.
But the princess detained them.
"You are noblemen; you do not intrude, you are acquainted with courtiers.
From where has God conducted you?"
Then they mentioned their names,[14] their coats of arms, their nicknames
and the estates from which they received their names. The lady having
heard from _wlodyka_[15] Macko that he had been to Wilno, clapped her
hands, and said:
"How well it has happened! Tell us about Wilno and about my brother and
sister. Is Prince Witold coming for the queen's confinement and for the
christening?"
"He would like to, but does not know whether he will be able to do so;
therefore he sent a silver cradle to the queen for a present. My nephew
and I brought that cradle."
"Then the cradle is here? I would like to see it! All silver?"
"All silver; but it is not here. The Basilians took it to Krakow."
"And what are you doing in Tyniec?"
"We returned here to see the procurator of the monastery who is our
relative, in order to deposit with the worthy monks, that with which the
war has blessed us and that which the prince gave us for a present."
"Then God gave you good luck and valuable booty? But tell me why my
brother is uncertain whether he will come?"
"Because he is preparing an expedition against the Tartars."
"I know it; but I am grieved that the queen did not prophesy a happy
result for that expedition, and everything she predicts is always
fulfilled."
Macko smiled.
"Ej, our lady is a prophetess, I cannot deny; but with Prince Witold, the
might of our knighthood will go, splendid men, against whom nobody is
able to contend."
"Are you not going?"
"No, I was sent with the cradle, and for five years I have not taken off
my armor," answered Macko, showing the furrows made by the cuirass on his
reindeer jacket; "but let me rest, then I will go, or if I do not go
myself then I will send this youth, my nephew, Zbyszko, to Pan[16] Spytko
of Melsztyn, under whose command all our knights will go."
Princess Danuta glanced at Zbyszko's beautiful figure; but further
conversation was interrupted by the arrival of a monk from the monastery,
who having greeted the princess, began to humbly reproach her, because
she had not sent a courier with the news that she was coming, and because
she had not stopped at the monastery, but in an ordinary inn which was
not worthy of her majesty. There are plenty of houses and buildings in
the monastery where even an ordinary man will find hospitality, and
royalty is still more welcome, especially the wife of that prince from
whose ancestors and relatives, the abbey had experienced so many
benefits.
But the princess answered mirthfully:
"We came here only to stretch our limbs; in the morning we must be in
Krakow. We sleep during the day and we travel during the night, because
it is cooler. As the roosters were crowing, I did not wish to awaken the
pious monks, especially with such a company which thinks more about
singing and dancing than about repose."
But when the monk still insisted, she added:
"No. We will stay here. We will spend the time well in singing lay songs,
but we will come to the church for matins in order to begin the day with
God."
"There will be a mass for the welfare of the gracious prince and the
gracious princess," said the monk.
"The prince, my husband, will not come for four or five days."
"The Lord God will be able to grant happiness even from afar, and in the
meanwhile let us poor monks at least bring some wine from the monastery."
"We will gladly repay," said the princess.
When the monk went out, she called:
"Hej, Danusia! Danusia! Mount the bench and make our hearts merry with
the same song you sang in Zator."
Having heard this, the courtiers put a bench in the centre of the room.
The _rybalts_ sat on the ends, and between them stood that young girl who
had carried behind the princess the lute ornamented with brass nails. On
her head she had a small garland, her hair falling on her shoulders, and
she wore a blue dress and red shoes with long points. On the bench she
looked like a child, but at the same time, a beautiful child, like some
figure from a church. It was evident that she was not singing for the
first time before the princess, because she was not embarrassed.
"Sing, Danusia, sing!" the young court girls shouted.
She seized the lute, raised her head like a bird which begins to sing,
and having closed her eyes, she began with a silvery voice:
"If I only could get
The wings like a birdie,
I would fly quickly
To my dearest Jasiek!"
The _rybalts_ accompanied her, one on the _gensliks_, the other on a big
lute; the princess, who loved the lay songs better than anything else in
the world, began to move her head back and forth, and the young girl sang
further with a thin, sweet childish voice, like a bird singing in the
forest:
"I would then be seated
On the high enclosure:
Look, my dear Jasiulku,
Look on me, poor orphan."
And then the _rybalts_ played. The young Zbyszko of Bogdaniec, who being
accustomed from childhood to war and its dreadful sights, had never in
his life heard anything like it; he touched a Mazur[17] standing beside
him and asked:
"Who is she?"
"She is a girl from the princess' court. We do not lack _rybalts_ who
cheer up the court, but she is the sweetest little _rybalt_ of them all,
and to the songs of no one else will the princess listen so gladly."
"I don't wonder. I thought she was an angel from heaven and I can't look
at her enough. What do they call her?"
"Have you not heard? Danusia. Her father is Jurand of Spychow, a
_comes_[18] mighty and gallant."
"Hej! Such a girl human eyes never saw before!"
"Everybody loves her for her singing and her beauty."
"And who is her knight?"
"She is only a child yet!"
Further conversation was stopped by Danusia's singing. Zbyszko looked at
her fair hair, her uplifted head, her half-closed eyes, and at her whole
figure lighted by the glare of the wax candles and by the glare of the
moonbeams entering through the windows; and he wondered more and more. It
seemed to him now, that he had seen her before; but he could not remember
whether it was in a dream, or somewhere in Krakow on the pane of a church
window.
And again he touched the courtier and asked in a low voice:
"Then she is from your court?"
"Her mother came from Litwa with the princess, Anna Danuta, who married
her to Count Jurand of Spychow. She was pretty and belonged to a powerful
family; the princess liked her better than any of the other young girls
and she loved the princess. That is the reason she gave the same name to