CHAPTER IX.

See yonder woman, whom our swains revere,

And dread in secret, while they take her counsel

When sweetheart shall be kind, or when cross dame shall die;

Where lurks the thief who stole the silver tankard,

And how the pestilent murrain may be cured.--

This sage adviser's mad, stark mad, my friend;

Yet, in her madness, hath the art and cunning

To wring fools' secrets from their inmost bosoms,

And pay enquirers with the coin they gave her.

_Old Play._

It seemed as if Norna had indeed full right to claim the gratitude of

the Udaller for the improved condition of his daughter's health. She

once more threw open the window, and Minna, drying her eyes and

advancing with affectionate confidence, threw herself on her father's

neck, and asked his forgiveness for the trouble she had of late

occasioned to him. It is unnecessary to add, that this was at once

granted, with a full, though rough burst of parental tenderness, and as

many close embraces as if his child had been just rescued from the jaws

of death. When Magnus had dismissed Minna from his arms, to throw

herself into those of her sister, and express to her, rather by kisses

and tears than in words, the regret she entertained for her late wayward

conduct, the Udaller thought proper, in the meantime, to pay his thanks

to their hostess, whose skill had proved so efficacious. But scarce had

he come out with, "Much respected kinswoman, I am but a plain old

Norseman,"--when she interrupted him, by pressing her finger on her

lips.

"There are those around us," she said, "who must hear no mortal voice,

witness no sacrifice to mortal feelings--there are times when they

mutiny even against me, their sovereign mistress, because I am still

shrouded in the flesh of humanity. Fear, therefore, and be silent. I,

whose deeds have raised me from the low-sheltered valley of life, where

dwell its social wants and common charities;--I, who have bereft the

Giver of the Gift which he gave, and stand alone on a cliff of

immeasurable height, detached from earth, save from the small portion

that supports my miserable tread--I alone am fit to cope with those

sullen mates. Fear not, therefore, but yet be not too bold, and let this

night to you be one of fasting and of prayer."

If the Udaller had not, before the commencement of the operation, been

disposed to dispute the commands of the sibyl, it may be well believed

he was less so now, that it had terminated to all appearance so

fortunately. So he sat down in silence, and seized upon a volume which

lay near him as a sort of desperate effort to divert ennui, for on no

other occasion had Magnus been known to have recourse to a book for that

purpose. It chanced to be a book much to his mind, being the well-known

work of Olaus Magnus, upon the manners of the ancient Northern nations.

The book is unluckily in the Latin language, and the Danske or Dutch

were, either of them, much more familiar to the Udaller. But then it was

the fine edition published in 1555, which contains representations of

the war-chariots, fishing exploits, warlike exercises, and domestic

employments of the Scandinavians, executed on copper-plates; and thus

the information which the work refused to the understanding, was

addressed to the eye, which, as is well known both to old and young,

answers the purpose of amusement as well, if not better.

Meanwhile the two sisters, pressed as close to each other as two flowers

on the same stalk, sat with their arms reciprocally passed over each

other's shoulder, as if they feared some new and unforeseen cause of

coldness was about to separate them, and interrupt the sister-like

harmony which had been but just restored. Norna sat opposite to them,

sometimes revolving the large parchment volume with which they had found

her employed at their entrance, and sometimes gazing on the sisters with

a fixed look, in which an interest of a kind unusually tender, seemed

occasionally to disturb the stern and rigorous solemnity of her

countenance. All was still and silent as death, and the subsiding

emotions of Brenda had not yet permitted her to wonder whether the

remaining hours of the evening were to be passed in the same manner,

when the scene of tranquillity was suddenly interrupted by the entrance

of the dwarf Pacolet, or, as the Udaller called him, Nicholas Strumpfer.

Norna darted an angry glance on the intruder, who seemed to deprecate

her resentment by holding up his hands and uttering a babbling sound;

then, instantly resorting to his usual mode of conversation, he

expressed himself by a variety of signs made rapidly upon his fingers,

and as rapidly answered by his mistress, so that the young women, who

had never heard of such an art, and now saw it practised by two beings

so singular, almost conceived their mutual intelligence the work of

enchantment. When they had ceased their intercourse, Norna turned to

Magnus Troil with much haughtiness, and said, "How, my kinsman? have you

so far forgot yourself, as to bring earthly food into the house of the

Reimkennar, and make preparations in the dwelling of Power and of

Despair, for refection, and wassail, and revelry?--Speak not--answer

not," she said; "the duration of the cure which was wrought even now,

depends on your silence and obedience--bandy but a single look or word

with me, and the latter condition of that maiden shall be worse than the

first!"

This threat was an effectual charm upon the tongue of the Udaller,

though he longed to indulge it in vindication of his conduct.

"Follow me, all of you," said Norna, striding to the door of the

apartment, "and see that no one looks backwards--we leave not this

apartment empty, though we, the children of mortality, be removed from

it."

She went out, and the Udaller signed to his daughters to follow, and to

obey her injunctions. The sibyl moved swifter than her guests down the

rude descent, (such it might rather be termed, than a proper staircase,)

which led to the lower apartment. Magnus and his daughters, when they

entered the chamber, found their own attendants aghast at the presence

and proceedings of Norna of the Fitful-head.

They had been previously employed in arranging the provisions which they

had brought along with them, so as to present a comfortable cold meal,

as soon as the appetite of the Udaller, which was as regular as the

return of tide, should induce him to desire some refreshment; and now

they stood staring in fear and surprise, while Norna, seizing upon one

article after another, and well supported by the zealous activity of

Pacolet, flung their whole preparations out of the rude aperture which

served for a window, and over the cliff, from which the ancient Burgh

arose, into the ocean, which raged and foamed beneath. _Vifda_, (dried

beef,) hams, and pickled pork, flew after each other into empty space,

smoked geese were restored to the air, and cured fish to the sea, their

native elements indeed, but which they were no longer capable of

traversing; and the devastation proceeded so rapidly, that the Udaller

could scarce secure from the wreck his silver drinking cup; while the

large leathern flask of brandy, which was destined to supply his

favourite beverage, was sent to follow the rest of the supper, by the

hands of Pacolet, who regarded, at the same time, the disappointed

Udaller with a malicious grin, as if, notwithstanding his own natural

taste for the liquor, he enjoyed the disappointment and surprise of

Magnus Troil still more than he would have relished sharing his

enjoyment.

The destruction of the brandy flask exhausted the patience of Magnus,

who roared out, in a tone of no small displeasure, "Why, kinswoman, this

is wasteful madness--where, and on what, would you have us sup?"

"Where you will," answered Norna, "and on what you will--but not in my

dwelling, and not on the food with which you have profaned it. Vex my

spirit no more, but begone every one of you! You have been here too long

for my good, perhaps for your own."

"How, kinswoman," said Magnus, "would you make outcasts of us at this

time of night, when even a Scotchman would not turn a stranger from the

door?--Bethink you, dame, it is shame on our lineage for ever, if this

squall of yours should force us to slip cables, and go to sea so

scantily provided."

"Be silent, and depart," said Norna; "let it suffice you have got that

for which you came. I have no harbourage for mortal guests, no provision

to relieve human wants. There is beneath the cliff, a beach of the

finest sand, a stream of water as pure as the well of Kildinguie, and

the rocks bear dulse as wholesome as that of Guiodin; and well you wot,

that the well of Kildinguie and the dulse of Guiodin will cure all

maladies save Black Death."[22]

"And well I wot," said the Udaller, "that I would eat corrupted

sea-weeds like a starling, or salted seal's flesh like the men of

Burraforth, or wilks, buckies, and lampits, like the poor sneaks of

Stroma, rather than break wheat bread and drink red wine in a house

where it is begrudged me.--And yet," he said, checking himself, "I am

wrong, very wrong, my cousin, to speak thus to you, and I should rather

thank you for what you have done, than upbraid you for following your

own ways. But I see you are impatient--we will be all under way

presently.--And you, ye knaves," addressing his servants, "that were in

such hurry with your service before it was lacked, get out of doors with

you presently, and manage to catch the ponies; for I see we must make

for another harbour to-night, if we would not sleep with an empty

stomach, and on a hard bed."

The domestics of Magnus, already sufficiently alarmed at the violence of

Norna's conduct, scarce waited the imperious command of their master to

evacuate her dwelling with all dispatch; and the Udaller, with a

daughter on each arm, was in the act of following them, when Norna said

emphatically, "Stop!" They obeyed, and again turned towards her. She

held out her hand to Magnus, which the placable Udaller instantly folded

in his own ample palm.

"Magnus," she said, "we part by necessity, but, I trust, not in anger?"

"Surely not, cousin," said the warm-hearted Udaller, wellnigh stammering

in his hasty disclamation of all unkindness,--"most assuredly not. I

never bear ill-will to any one, much less to one of my own blood, and

who has piloted me with her advice through many a rough tide, as I would

pilot a boat betwixt Swona and Stroma, through all the waws, wells, and

swelchies of the Pentland Frith."

"Enough," said Norna, "and now farewell, with such a blessing as I dare

bestow--not a word more!--Maidens," she added, "draw near, and let me

kiss your brows."

The sibyl was obeyed by Minna with awe, and by Brenda with fear; the one

overmastered by the warmth of her imagination, the other by the natural

timidity of her constitution. Norna then dismissed them, and in two

minutes afterwards they found themselves beyond the bridge, and standing

upon the rocky platform in front of the ancient Pictish Burgh, which it

was the pleasure of this sequestered female to inhabit. The night, for

it was now fallen, was unusually serene. A bright twilight, which

glimmered far over the surface of the sea, supplied the brief absence of

the summer's sun; and the waves seemed to sleep under its influence, so

faint and slumberous was the sound with which one after another rolled

on and burst against the foot of the cliff on which they stood. In front

of them stood the rugged fortress, seeming, in the uniform greyness of

the atmosphere, as aged, as shapeless, and as massive, as the rock on

which it was founded. There was neither sight nor sound that indicated

human habitation, save that from one rude shot-hole glimmered the flame

of the feeble lamp by which the sibyl was probably pursuing her mystical

and nocturnal studies, shooting upon the twilight, in which it was soon

lost and confounded, a single line of tiny light; bearing the same

proportion to that of the atmosphere, as the aged woman and her serf,

the sole inhabitants of that desert, did to the solitude with which they

were surrounded.

For several minutes, the party, thus suddenly and unexpectedly expelled

from the shelter where they had reckoned upon spending the night, stood

in silence, each wrapt in their own separate reflections. Minna, her

thoughts fixed on the mystical consolation which she had received, in

vain endeavoured to extract from the words of Norna a more distinct and

intelligible meaning; and the Udaller had not yet recovered his surprise

at the extrusion to which he had been thus whimsically subjected, under

circumstances that prohibited him from resenting as an insult,

treatment, which, in all other respects, was so shocking to the genial

hospitality of his nature, that he still felt like one disposed to be

angry, if he but knew how to set about it. Brenda was the first who

brought matters to a point, by asking whither they were to go, and how

they were to spend the night? The question, which was asked in a tone,

that, amidst its simplicity, had something dolorous in it, entirely

changed the train of her father's ideas; and the unexpected perplexity

of their situation now striking him in a comic point of view, he laughed

till his very eyes ran over, while every rock around him rang, and the

sleeping sea-fowl were startled from their repose, by the loud, hearty

explosions of his obstreperous hilarity.

The Udaller's daughters, eagerly representing to their father the risk

of displeasing Norna by this unlimited indulgence of his mirth, united

their efforts to drag him to a farther distance from her dwelling.

Magnus, yielding to their strength, which, feeble as it was, his own fit

of laughter rendered him incapable of resisting, suffered himself to be

pulled to a considerable distance from the Burgh, and then escaping from

their hands, and sitting down, or rather suffering himself to drop, upon

a large stone which lay conveniently by the wayside, he again laughed so

long and lustily, that his vexed and anxious daughters became afraid

that there was something more than natural in these repeated

convulsions.

At length his mirth exhausted both itself and the Udaller's strength. He

groaned heavily, wiped his eyes, and said, not without feeling some

desire to renew his obstreperous cachinnation, "Now, by the bones of

Saint Magnus, my ancestor and namesake, one would imagine that being

turned out of doors, at this time of night, was nothing short of an

absolutely exquisite jest; for I have shaken my sides at it till they

ache. There we sat, made snug for the night, and I made as sure of a

good supper and a can as ever I had been of either,--and here we are all

taken aback! and then poor Brenda's doleful voice, and melancholy

question, of 'What is to be done, and where are we to sleep?' In good

faith, unless one of those knaves, who must needs torment the poor woman

by their trencher-work before it was wanted, can make amends by telling

us of some snug port under our lee, we have no other course for it but

to steer through the twilight on the bearing of Burgh-Westra, and rough

it out as well as we can by the way. I am sorry but for you, girls; for

many a cruize have I been upon when we were on shorter allowance than we

are like to have now.--I would I had but secured a morsel for you, and a

drop for myself; and then there had been but little to complain of."

Both sisters hastened to assure the Udaller that they felt not the least

occasion for food.

"Why, that is well," said Magnus: "and so being the case, I will not

complain of my own appetite, though it is sharper than convenient. And

the rascal, Nicholas Strumpfer,--what a leer the villain gave me as he

started the good Nantz into the salt-water! He grinned, the knave, like

a seal on a skerry.--Had it not been for vexing my poor kinswoman Norna,

I would have sent his misbegotten body, and misshapen jolterhead, after

my bonny flask, as sure as Saint Magnus lies at Kirkwall!"

By this time the servants returned with the ponies, which they had very

soon caught--these sensible animals finding nothing so captivating in

the pastures where they had been suffered to stray, as inclined them to

resist the invitation again to subject themselves to saddle and bridle.

The prospects of the party were also considerably improved by learning

that the contents of their sumpter-pony's burden had not been entirely

exhausted,--a small basket having fortunately escaped the rage of Norna

and Pacolet, by the rapidity with which one of the servants had caught

up and removed it. The same domestic, an alert and ready-witted fellow,

had observed upon the beach, not above three miles distant from the

Burgh, and about a quarter of a mile off their straight path, a deserted

_Skio_, or fisherman's hut, and suggested that they should occupy it for

the rest of the night, in order that the ponies might be refreshed, and

the young ladies spend the night under cover from the raw evening air.

When we are delivered from great and serious dangers, our mood is, or

ought to be, grave, in proportion to the peril we have escaped, and the

gratitude due to protecting Providence. But few things raise the spirits

more naturally, or more harmlessly, than when means of extrication from

any of the lesser embarrassments of life are suddenly presented to us;

and such was the case in the present instance. The Udaller, relieved

from the apprehensions for his daughters suffering from fatigue, and

himself from too much appetite and too little food, carolled Norse

ditties, as he spurred Bergen through the twilight, with as much glee

and gallantry as if the night-ride had been entirely a matter of his own

free choice. Brenda lent her voice to some of his choruses, which were

echoed in ruder notes by the servants, who, in that simple state of

society, were not considered as guilty of any breach of respect by

mingling their voices with the song. Minna, indeed, was as yet unequal

to such an effort; but she compelled herself to assume some share in the

general hilarity of the meeting; and, contrary to her conduct since the

fatal morning which concluded the Festival of Saint John, she seemed to

take her usual interest in what was going on around her, and answered

with kindness and readiness the repeated enquiries concerning her

health, with which the Udaller every now and then interrupted his carol.

And thus they proceeded by night, a happier party by far than they had

been when they traced the same route on the preceding morning, making

light of the difficulties of the way, and promising themselves shelter

and a comfortable night's rest in the deserted hut which they were now

about to approach, and which they expected to find in a state of

darkness and solitude.

But it was the lot of the Udaller that day to be deceived more than once

in his calculations.

"And which way lies this cabin of yours, Laurie?" said the Udaller,

addressing the intelligent domestic of whom we just spoke.

"Yonder it should be," said Laurence Scholey, "at the head of the

voe--but, by my faith, if it be the place, there are folk there before

us--God and Saint Ronan send that they be canny company!"

In truth there was a light in the deserted hut, strong enough to glimmer

through every chink of the shingles and wreck-wood of which it was

constructed, and to give the whole cabin the appearance of a smithy seen

by night. The universal superstition of the Zetlanders seized upon

Magnus and his escort.

"They are trows," said one voice.

"They are witches," murmured another.

"They are mermaids," muttered a third; "only hear their wild singing!"

All stopped; and, in effect, some notes of music were audible, which

Brenda, with a voice that quivered a little, but yet had a turn of arch

ridicule in its tone, pronounced to be the sound of a fiddle.

"Fiddle or fiend," said the Udaller, who, if he believed in such nightly

apparitions as had struck terror into his retinue, certainly feared them

not--"fiddle or fiend, may the devil fetch me if a witch cheats me out

of supper to-night, for the second time!"

So saying, he dismounted, clenched his trusty truncheon in his hand, and

advanced towards the hut, followed by Laurence alone; the rest of his

retinue continuing stationary on the beach beside his daughters and the

ponies.

FOOTNOTES:

[22] So at least says an Orkney proverb.