Of this intrenchment fearful ’tis to look,
For there the rulers of the forest sit—
Boars, bears, and wolves; and at its entrance lie
The bones half-gnawn of some imprudent guests.
At times upspurt, ’through verdure of the grass,
As ’twere two waterspouts, two horns of stags,
And flits between the trees some animal
With yellow girdle, like a sunbeam, that
On entering is lost among the wood.
And once more all is silent down below.
The woodpecker taps lightly on the pine,
And flies off further; he is gone, is hidden.
But still his beak goes tapping ceaselessly,
As children hiding to each other call
To seek them out. More near a squirrel sits,
Holding between her paws a nut, and gnaws,
Hanging her bushy tail above her eyes,
As falls a helmet-plume upon a cuirass.
Although thus veiled, she gazes heedful round.
A guest is seen—the woodland dancer springs
From tree to tree, like lightning flitting by.
At last she enters an invisible
Opening within a tree-trunk, like a Dryad
Returning to her native tree. Again
’Tis silent. Presently, a branch disturbed
Is quivering among the sundered crowd
Of service-trees; and rosier than their berries
Are shining cheeks; it is a gatherer
Of nuts or berries—’tis a maiden. She
In basket of rough bark doth proffer berries
Fresh-gathered, fresh as her own rosy lips.
Beside her is a youth; he bendeth down
The hazel-branches, and the damsel catches
The nuts that twinkling fly. Then, hear they sound
Of horns and dogs’ loud baying, and they guess
The hunt is coming near to them; and fearing
They vanish from the eye, like forest gods.
In Soplicowo was great stir. But not
Baying of dogs, or neigh of steeds, or creaking
Of carts, nor sound of horns the signal giving,
Could draw forth Thaddeus from his couch. All dressed
He had fall’n upon the bed, and slept as sound
As marmot in its hole. No one among
The young men thought to seek him through the house;
And each one, taken up but with himself,
Made haste wherever ordered; they completely
Forgot their sleeping comrade. He lay snoring.
The sunbeams through an opening in the shutter
Cut out in heart-shape, fell into the darkness,
In fiery pillar on the sleeper’s brow.
He still desired to sleep, and turned him round,
To avoid the sunshine. All at once he heard
A knocking, half awoke; a joyful waking
It was. He felt himself as full of life
As a young bird; he lightly drew his breath;
Happy he felt, and to himself he laughed,
Thinking of all that happened yesterday.
He coloured, and he sighed, and his heart beat.
He at the window looked; oh! wonderful!
In a transparency of sunbeams, in
That heart, shone two bright eyes, wide-opened as
The eyes of those who pierce from daylight clear
Into a shadow. And a little hand
He saw, that, like a fan, beside the face
Was spread towards the sun, to shield the eyes.
The slender fingers to the rosy light
Turned, through and through were reddened ruby like.
Lips curious, questioning, he saw, a little
Apart, and tiny teeth that gleamed like pearls
Among the coral, and a face which, though
Protected from the sun by rosy hand,
Itself blushed like a rose. Beneath the window
Lay Thaddeus, hidden in the shadow; lying
Upon his back, he marvelled at the wondrous
Vision, and saw it right above himself,
Almost upon his face. He knew not whether
It were a living thing, or if he dreamed
Of one of those sweet, bright, and childlike faces,
That we remember to have seen in dreams
Of innocent years. The little face bent down.
He gazed, with terror trembling, and with joy.
Alas! he saw too plainly; he remembered,
He recognised those short locks, brightly golden,
In tiny, twisted papers, white as snow,
Like silvery husks, that in the sunlight shone,
Like aureole on the picture of a saint.
He started up; at once the vision fled,
By the noise terrified; he waited, yet
It came not back; he only heard again
A knocking thrice repeated, and these words:
“Get up, sir; it is time for hunting. You
Have slept too long.” He sprang up from his couch,
And with both hands he pushed the shutter back,
Until the hinges shook, and flying wide,
It struck both walls. He sprang out, and looked round,
Thoughtful, confounded; nothing did he see,
Nor trace perceived of aught. Not far beyond
The window stretched the paling of the orchard.
Upon it leaves of hop and flowery garlands
Waved to and fro; had some light hands disturbed,
Had the wind stirred them? Thaddeus long gazed
Upon them, but he ventured not to pass
Into the garden; only leaned against
The garden wall. He lifted up his eyes,
And with his finger on his lips commanded
Silence unto himself, that he might not
By ev’n a hasty word the silence break.
Then sought he in his forehead, knocked at it,
As if for memories long laid to sleep.
At last his fingers gnawing ev’n to blood,
“ ’Tis well, ’tis well, thus!” shouted he aloud.
And in the mansion where a while ago
Was so much shouting, now ’twas void and still
As in the grave; all to the field had gone.
Thaddeus pricked up his ears, and placed both hands
As trumpets to them, listening till the wind
Bore towards him, blowing from the forest land,
The clamour of the horses, shouts of all
The hunting crowd. The horse of Thaddeus
Already saddled waited in the stall.
He seized a rifle, mounted, and he galloped
On headlong like a madman to the taverns,
Which stood beside the chapel where the beaters
Should gather in the morning. The two taverns
Leaned towards each other on each side the way,
Each with their windows threatening one another
Like enemies. The old one ’longed by right
Unto the Castle’s lord; Soplica built
The other to the Castle’s prejudice,
And in the first, as in his heritage,
Gervasy would preside, and in the other
Protasy took the highest place at table.
The newer tavern nought remarkable
Had in its aspect; but the older one
Was builded after a most ancient model,
Invented by the artificers of Tyre,
Which afterwards the Jews spread through the world;
A kind of architecture, quite unknown
To foreign builders; we received it from
The Jews. The tavern in the front was like
An ark, behind a sanctuary resembling.
The ark, the true square-cornered chest of Noah,
To-day known by the simple name of barn;
Therein are various kinds of animals,
Horses, and cows, and oxen, bearded goats,
But overhead the company of birds.
And though of reptiles but a pair, there are
Insects besides.115 The hinder part,
