The Pirate
Is lying upon its hospitable hearth;
But thou too shalt stoop, proud compeller of clouds,
When thou hearest the voice of the Reim-kennar.
3.
"There are verses that can stop the stag in the forest,
Ay, and when the dark-coloured dog is opening on his track;
There are verses can make the wild hawk pause on the wing,
Like the falcon that wears the hood and the jesses,
And who knows the shrill whistle of the fowler.
Thou who canst mock at the scream of the drowning mariner,
And the crash of the ravaged forest,
And the groan of the overwhelmed crowds,
When the church hath fallen in the moment of prayer,
There are sounds which thou also must list,
When they are chanted by the voice of the Reim-kennar.
4.
"Enough of woe hast thou wrought on the ocean,
The widows wring their hands on the beach;
Enough of woe hast thou wrought on the land,
The husbandman folds his arms in despair;
Cease thou the waving of thy pinions,
Let the ocean repose in her dark strength;
Cease thou the flashing of thine eye.
Let the thunderbolt sleep in the armoury of Odin;
Be thou still at my bidding, viewless racer of the north-western heaven,
Sleep thou at the voice of Norna the Reim-kennar!"
We have said that Mordaunt was naturally fond of romantic poetry and
romantic situation; it is not therefore surprising that he listened with
interest to the wild address thus uttered to the wildest wind of the
compass, in a tone of such dauntless enthusiasm. But though he had heard
so much of the Runic rhyme and of the northern spell, in the country
where he had so long dwelt, he was not on this occasion so credulous as
to believe that the tempest, which had raged so lately, and which was
now beginning to decline, was subdued before the charmed verse of Norna.
Certain it was, that the blast seemed passing away, and the apprehended
danger was already over; but it was not improbable that this issue had
been for some time foreseen by the Pythoness, through signs of the
weather imperceptible to those who had not dwelt long in the country, or
had not bestowed on the meteorological phenomena the attention of a
strict and close observer. Of Norna's experience he had no doubt, and
that went a far way to explain what seemed supernatural in her
demeanour. Yet still the noble countenance, half-shaded by dishevelled
tresses, the air of majesty with which, in a tone of menace as well as
of command, she addressed the viewless spirit of the tempest, gave him a
strong inclination to believe in the ascendency of the occult arts over
the powers of nature; for, if a woman ever moved on earth to whom such
authority over the ordinary laws of the universe could belong, Norna of
Fitful-head, judging from bearing, figure, and face, was born to that
high destiny.
The rest of the company were less slow in receiving conviction. To
Tronda and the jagger none was necessary; they had long believed in the
full extent of Norna's authority over the elements. But Triptolemus and
his sister gazed at each other with wondering and alarmed looks,
especially when the wind began perceptibly to decline, as was remarkably
visible during the pauses which Norna made betwixt the strophes of her
incantation. A long silence followed the last verse, until Norna
resumed her chant, but with a changed and more soothing modulation of
voice and tune.
"Eagle of the far north-western waters,
Thou hast heard the voice of the Reim-kennar,
Thou hast closed thy wide sails at her bidding,
And folded them in peace by thy side.
My blessing be on thy retiring path!
When thou stoopest from thy place on high,
Soft be thy slumbers in the caverns of the unknown ocean,
Rest till destiny shall again awaken thee;
Eagle of the north-west, thou hast heard the voice of the Reim-kennar!"
"A pretty sang that would be to keep the corn from shaking in har'st,"
whispered the agriculturist to his sister; "we must speak her fair,
Baby--she will maybe part with the secret for a hundred pund Scots."
"An hundred fules' heads!" replied Baby--"bid her five merks of ready
siller. I never knew a witch in my life but she was as poor as Job."
Norna turned towards them as if she had guessed their thoughts; it may
be that she did so. She passed them with a look of the most sovereign
contempt, and walking to the table on which the preparations for Mrs.
Barbara's frugal meal were already disposed, she filled a small wooden
quaigh from an earthen pitcher which contained bland, a subacid liquor
made out of the serous part of the milk. She broke a single morsel from
a barley-cake, and having eaten and drunk, returned towards the churlish
hosts. "I give you no thanks," she said, "for my refreshment, for you
bid me not welcome to it; and thanks bestowed on a churl are like the
dew of heaven on the cliffs of Foulah, where it finds nought that can
be refreshed by its influences. I give you no thanks," she said again,
but drawing from her pocket a leathern purse that seemed large and
heavy, she added, "I pay you with what you will value more than the
gratitude of the whole inhabitants of Hialtland. Say not that Norna of
Fitful-head hath eaten of your bread and drunk of your cup, and left you
sorrowing for the charge to which she hath put your house." So saying,
she laid on the table a small piece of antique gold coin, bearing the
rude and half-defaced effigies of some ancient northern king.
Triptolemus and his sister exclaimed against this liberality with
vehemence; the first protesting that he kept no public, and the other
exclaiming, "Is the carline mad? Heard ye ever of ony of the gentle
house of Clinkscale that gave meat for siller?"
"Or for love either?" muttered her brother; "haud to that, tittie."
"What are ye whittie-whattieing about, ye gowk?" said his gentle sister,
who suspected the tenor of his murmurs; "gie the ladie back her
bonnie-die there, and be blithe to be sae rid on't--it will be a
sclate-stane the morn, if not something worse."
The honest factor lifted the money to return it, yet could not help
being struck when he saw the impression, and his hand trembled as he
handed it to his sister.
"Yes," said the Pythoness again, as if she read the thoughts of the
astonished pair, "you have seen that coin before--beware how you use it!
It thrives not with the sordid or the mean-souled--it was won with
honourable danger, and must be expended with honourable liberality. The
treasure which lies under a cold hearth will one day, like the hidden
talent, bear witness against its avaricious possessors."
This last obscure intimation seemed to raise the alarm and the wonder of
Mrs. Baby and her brother to the uttermost. The latter tried to stammer
out something like an invitation to Norna to tarry with them all night,
or at least to take share of the "dinner," so he at first called it; but
looking at the company, and remembering the limited contents of the pot,
he corrected the phrase, and hoped she would take some part of the
"snack, which would be on the table ere a man could loose a pleugh."
"I eat not here--I sleep not here," replied Norna--"nay, I relieve you
not only of my own presence, but I will dismiss your unwelcome
guests.--Mordaunt," she added, addressing young Mertoun, "the dark fit
is past, and your father looks for you this evening."
"Do you return in that direction?" said Mordaunt. "I will but eat a
morsel, and give you my aid, good mother, on the road. The brooks must
be out, and the journey perilous."
"Our roads lie different," answered the Sibyl, "and Norna needs not
mortal arm to aid her on the way. I am summoned far to the east, by
those who know well how to smooth my passage.--For thee, Bryce
Snailsfoot," she continued, speaking to the pedlar, "speed thee on to
Sumburgh--the Roost will afford thee a gallant harvest, and worthy the
gathering in. Much goodly ware will ere now be seeking a new owner, and
the careful skipper will sleep still enough in the deep haaf, and care
not that bale and chest are dashing against the shores."
"Na, na, good mother," answered Snailsfoot, "I desire no man's life for
my private advantage, and am just grateful for the blessing of
Providence on my sma' trade. But doubtless one man's loss is another's
gain; and as these storms destroy a' thing on land, it is but fair they
suld send us something by sea. Sae, taking the freedom, like yoursell,
mother, to borrow a lump of barley-bread, and a draught of bland, I will
bid good-day, and thank you, to this good gentleman and lady, and e'en
go on my way to Jarlshof, as you advise."
"Ay," replied the Pythoness, "where the slaughter is, the eagles will be
gathered; and where the wreck is on the shore, the jagger is as busy to
purchase spoil as the shark to gorge upon the dead."
This rebuke, if it was intended for such, seemed above the comprehension
of the travelling merchant, who, bent upon gain, assumed the knapsack
and ellwand, and asked Mordaunt, with the familiarity permitted in a
wild country, whether he would not take company along with him?
"I wait to eat some dinner with Mr. Yellowley and Mrs. Baby," answered
the youth, "and will set forward in half an hour."
"Then I'll just take my piece in my hand," said the pedlar. Accordingly
he muttered a benediction, and, without more ceremony, helped himself to
what, in Mrs. Baby's covetous eyes, appeared to be two-thirds of the
bread, took a long pull at the jug of bland, seized on a handful of the
small fish called sillocks, which the domestic was just placing on the
board, and left the room without farther ceremony.
"My certie," said the despoiled Mrs. Baby, "there is the chapman's
drouth[27] and his hunger baith, as folk say! If the laws against
vagrants be executed this gate--It's no that I wad shut the door against
decent folk," she said, looking to Mordaunt, "more especially in such
judgment-weather. But I see the goose is dished, poor thing."
This she spoke in a tone of affection for the smoked goose, which,
though it had long been an inanimate inhabitant of her chimney, was far
more interesting to Mrs. Baby in that state, than when it screamed
amongst the clouds. Mordaunt laughed and took his seat, then turned to
look for Norna; but she had glided from the apartment during the
discussion with the pedlar.
"I am glad she is gane, the dour carline," said Mrs. Baby, "though she
has left that piece of gowd to be an everlasting shame to us."
"Whisht, mistress, for the love of heaven!" said Tronda Dronsdaughter;
"wha kens where she may be this moment?--we are no sure but she may hear
us, though we cannot see her."
Mistress Baby cast a startled eye around, and instantly recovering
herself, for she was naturally courageous as well as violent, said, "I
bade her aroint before, and I bid her aroint again, whether she sees me
or hears me, or whether she's ower the cairn and awa.--And you, ye silly
sumph," she said to poor Yellowley, "what do ye stand glowering there
for?--_You_ a Saunt Andrew's student!--_you_ studied lair and Latin
humanities, as ye ca' them, and daunted wi' the clavers of an auld
randie wife! Say your best college grace, man, and witch, or nae witch,
we'll eat our dinner, and defy her. And for the value of the gowden
piece, it shall never be said I pouched her siller. I will gie it to
some poor body--that is, I will test[28] upon it at my death, and keep
it for a purse-penny till that day comes, and that's no using it in the
way of spending siller. Say your best college grace, man, and let us eat
and drink in the meantime."
"Ye had muckle better say an _oraamus_ to Saint Ronald, and fling a
saxpence ower your left shouther, master," said Tronda.[29]
"That ye may pick it up, ye jaud," said the implacable Mistress Baby;