HYL [From Sharpe's Magazine.] THE WIFE OF KONG TOLV.* I confess I wished the same, especially when I glanced at the master of the household, who stood apart, gloomy as a thunder-cloud, and with the look of a man who thinks himself in BY THE AUTHOR "COLA MONTI." a decidedly false position. The Easterns do not understand a jest, especially in a harem; and not YLDREDA KALM stood at the door of her being addicted to irony (that great safety-valve cottage, and looked abroad into the quiet for enthusiasm), they pass rapidly from immov-ness of the Sabbath morn. The village of Skjels. ability to very significant and sometimes dis-kör lay at a little distance down the vale, lighted agreeable action. Speaking little, they deliver by the sunshine of a Zealand summer, which, their souls by acting. I should have been glad to hear our host talk, even though in a stormy voice on the whole, however, I trusted much to the self-possession and address of my associate. Nor was I deceived. "Do as you see me do,' he said to me and the dragoman; and then, immediately after giving the third shock, which was as ineffectual as those that preceded it, he advanced to our grim host with a face radiant with satisfaction, and congratulated him vehemently. "You are a happy man," he said. "Your household has not a flaw in it. Fortunate it was that you sent for the wise man: I have discovered the matter." "What have you discovered ?" "The fate of the ring. It has never been stolen: if it had, I would have restored it to you. Fear nothing; your household is trustworthy and virtuous. I know where the ring is; but I should deceive you if I bade you hope ever to find it again. This is a great mystery, and the happy consummation surpasses even my hopes. Adieu. The matter has turned out just as you see. You were born under a lucky star. Happy is the man whose household is trustworthy, and who, when his faith is tried, Sinds a faithful counselor. I forbid you, henceforth and forever, to distrust any one of your wives." It would be impossible to describe the countenance of our Mussulman friend during this harangue. There he stood, like a tree half in sunshine and half in shade; gratification struggling with displeasure in his countenance, and wonder eclipsing both. It was not by any means our policy to wait until he had adjusted the balance, and made up his mind as to the exact degree of gratitude he owed his guests. On, accordingly, we passed to the door. In a moment the instinct of courtesy prevailed, and our host made a sign to one of his retinue. His slaves preceded us with torches (it had grown late); and, accompanied by half the household, as a guard of honor, we again traversed the large and straggling house, passed through the garden, and entered the carriage which waited for us beyond the wall. Our evening passed rapidly away as we discussed our adventure; and I have more than once thought, with pleasure, how amusing an incident the visit of the strangers must have been to the secluded beauties. No doubt the baths of Constantinople have rung with many a merry laugh occasioned by this invasion of the Franks. Never, perhaps, have the inmates of a harem seen so much of the infidel before, and conversed with him so familiarly, in the presence of their husband. though brief, is glowing and lovely even as that of the south. Hyldreda had looked for seventeen years upon this beautiful scene, the place where she was born. Sunday after Sunday she had stood thus and listened for the distant tinkle of the church bell. A stranger, passing by, might have said, how lovely were her face and form; but the widowed mother, whose sole stay she was, and the little delicate sister, who had been her darling from the cradle, would have answered, that if none were so fair, none were likewise so good as Hyldreda; and that all the village knew. If she did love to bestow greater taste and care on her Sunday garments than most young damsels of her class, she had a right-for was she not beautiful as any lady? And did not the eyes of Esbern Lynge say so, when, week after week, he came up the hilly road, and descended again to the little chapel, supporting the feeble mother's slow steps, and watching his betrothed as she bounded on before, with little Resa in her hand? "Is Esbera coming?" said the mother's voice within. "I know not-I did not look," answered Hyldreda, with a girlish willfulness. "I saw only the sun shining on the river, and the oakwood waving in the breeze." "Look down the road, child; the time passes. Go quickly." "She is gone already," said Resa, laughing merrily. "She is standing under the great elder-tree to wait for Esbern Lynge." "Call her back-call her back!" cried the mother, anxiously. "To stand beneath an eld er-tree, and this night will be St. John's Eve! On Sunday, too, and she a Sunday child! Call her quickly, Resa." The little child lifted up her voice, "Hyld-" "Not her name-utter not her name!" And the widow Kalm went on muttering to herself, "Perhaps the Hyldemoert will not have heard. Alas the day! when my child was born under an elder-tree, and I, poor desolate mother! was terrified into giving my babe that name. Great Hyldemoer, be propitiated! Holy Virgin!" and the widow's prayer became a curious mingling of superstition and piety, "Blessed Mary! let not the elves have power over my child! Have *The idea of this story is partly taken from a Danish Visa, or legendary ballad, entitled "Proud Margaret." + Hyldemoer, elder mother, is the name of a Danish elf inhabiting the elder-tree. Eda signifies a grandmother or female ancestor. Children born on Sundays were especially under the power of the elves. I not kept her heart from evil? does not the holy cross lie on her pure breast day and night? Do I not lead her every Sunday, winter and summer, in storm, sunshine, or snow, to the chapel in the valley? And this day I will say for her a double prayer." The mother's counted beads had scarce come to an end when Hyldreda stood by her side, and, following the light-footed damsel, came Esbern Lynge. "Child, why didst thou linger under the tree?" said the widow. "It does not become a young maiden to stand flaunting outside her door. Who wert thou watching so eagerly?" "Not thee, Esbern," laughed the girl, shaking her head at her betrothed, who interposed with a happy conscious face; "I was looking at a grand train that wound along the road, and thinking how pleasant it would be to dress on a Sunday like the lady of the castle, and recline idly behind four prancing horses instead of trudging on in these clumsy shoes." shine," cried the trembling child; "look away, my sister, lest he should hear us." Again Hyldreda's fearless laugh made music through the still air, and she kept looking back until they passed from the open road into the gloom of the oak wood. "It is strange that thou shouldst be so brave," said Resa once more. "I tremble at the very thought of the Elle-people of whom our villagers tell, while thou hast not a single fear. Why is it, sister ?" "I know not, save that I never yet feared any thing," answered Hyldreda, carelessly. “As for Kong Tolv, let him come, I care not." While she spoke, a breeze swept through the oak wood, the trees began to bend their tops, and the under branches were stirred with leafy murmurings, as the young girl passed beneath. She lifted her fair face to meet them. "Ah. 'tis delicious, this soft scented wind; it touches my face like airy kisses; it makes the leaves seem to talk to me in musical whispers. Dost The mother frowned, and Esbern Lynge look- thou not hear them too, little Resa? and dost ed sorrowful. "I wish I could give her all she longs for," sighed the young man, as they proceeded on their way, his duteous arm supporting the wid Ow, while Hyldreda and Resa went bounding onward before them; "She is as beautiful as a queen-I would that I could make her one." “Wish rather, Esbern, that Heaven may make her a pious, lowly-hearted maid, and, in good time, a wife; that she may live in humility and content, and die in peace among her own people." Esbern said nothing-he could not think of death and her together. So he and the widow Kalm walked on silently-and so slowly that they soon lost sight of the two blithe sisters. Hyldreda was talking merrily of the grand sight she had just seen, and describing to little Resa the gilded coach, the prancing horses, with glittering harness. "Oh! but it was a goodly train, as it swept down toward the river. Who knows? Perhaps it may have been the king and queen themselves." No," said little Resa, rather fearfully, “you know Kong Tolv* never lets any mortal king pass the bridge of Skjelskör." thou not-?" Hyldreda suddenly stopped, and gazed eagerly down the road. "Well, sister," said Resa, "what art dreaming of now? Come, we shall be late at church, and mother will scold." But the elder sister stood motionless. "How strange thine eyes look; what dost thou see, Hyldreda.” "Look-what is there!" "Nothing, but a cloud of dust that the wind sweeps forward. Stand back, sister, or it will blind thee." Still Hyldreda bent forward with admiring eyes, muttering, "Oh! the grand golden chariot, with its four beautiful white horses! And therein sits a man—surely it is the king! and the lady beside him is the queen. See, she turns-" Hyldreda paused, dumb with wonder, for despite the gorgeous show of jeweled attire, she recognized that face. It was the same she had looked at an hour before in the little cracked mirror. The lady in the carriage was the exact counterpart of herself! The pageant came and vanished. Little Resa turned round and wiped her eyes-she, innocent child, had seen nothing but a cloud of dust. Her elder sister answered not her questionings, but remained silent, oppressed by a nameless awe It passed not, even when the chapel was reached, and Hyldreda knelt to pray. Above the sound of the hymn she heard the ravishing music of the leaves in the oak wood, and instead of the priest she seemed to behold the two dazzling forms which had sat side by side in the golden chariot. When service was ended, and all went homewards, she lingered under the trees where the vision, or reality, whichever it was, had met her sight, half longing for its reappearance. But her mother whispered something to Esbern, and they hurried Hyldreda away. She laid aside her Sunday mantle, the scarlet woof which to spin, weave, and fashion, had cost Her loud, her a world of pains. How coarse and ugly it one who well knew how to rule. seemed! She threw it contemptuously aside, severe voice already warned the girl of the reand thought how beautiful looked the purple-proof that was coming. To avoid it only for a robed lady, who was so like herself. 66 And why should I not be as fair as she? I should, if I were only dressed as fine. Heaven might as well have made me a lady, instead of a poor peasant girl." These repinings entered the young heart hitherto so pure and happy. They haunted her even when she rejoined her mother, Resa, and Esbern Lynge. She prepared the noonday meal, but her step was heavy and her hand unwilling. The fare seemed coarse, the cottage looked dark and poor. She wondered what sort of a palace home was that owned by the beautiful lady; and whether the king, if king the stranger were, presided at his banquet table as awkwardly as did Esbern Lynge at the mean board here. At the twilight, Hyldreda did not steal out as usual to talk with her lover beneath the roseporch. She went and hid herself out of his sight, under the branches of the great elder-tree, which to her had always a strange charm, perhaps because it was the spot of all others where she was forbidden to stay. However, this day Hyldreda began to feel herself to be no longer a child, but a woman whose will was free. She sat under the dreamy darkness of the heavy foliage. Its faint sickly odor overpowered her like a spell. Even the white bunches of elder flowers seemed to grow alive in the twilight, and to change into faces, looking at her whithersoever she turned. She shut her eyes, and tried to summon back the phantom of the golden chariot, and especially of the kinglike man who sat inside. Scarce had she seen him clearly, but she felt he looked a king. If wishing could bring to her so glorious a fortune, she would almost like to have, in addition to the splendors of rich dress and grand palaces, such a noble-looking man for her lord and husband. He And the poor maiden was rudely awakened from her dream, by feeling on her delicate shoulders the two heavy hands of Esbern Lynge. Haughtily she took them off. Alas! he, loving her so much, had ever been lightly loved in return to-day he was not loved at all. He came at an ill time, for the moment his hand put aside the elder branches, all the dazzling fancies of his betrothed vanished in air. came, too, with an ill-wooing, for he implored her to trifle no more, but to fulfill her mother's hope and his, and enter as mistress at the little blacksmith's forge. She, who had just been dreaming of a palace home! Not a word she answered at first, and then cold, cruel words, worse than silence. So Esbern, who, though a lover, was a manly-hearted youth, and thought it shame to be mocked by a girl's light tongue, left her there and went away, not angry, but very sorrowful. Little Resa came to summon her sister. But Hyldreda trembled before the gathering storm, for widow Kalm, though a tender mother, was little, until her own proud spirit was calmed, Hyldreda told Resa she would not come in until after she had taken a little walk down the moonlight road. As she passed from under the eldertree, she heard a voice, like her mother's, and yet not her mother's-no, it could never be, for it shouted after her, "Come now, or come no more!" Some evil impulse goaded the haughty gir to assert her womanly right of free action, and she passed from her home, flying with swift steps. A little, only a little absence, to show her indignant pride, and she would be back again, to heal all strife. Nevertheless, ere she was aware, Hyldreda had reached the oak-wood, beneath which she had seen the morning's bewildering sight. And there again, brighter in the moonlight than it had ever seemed in the day, came sweeping by the stately pageant. Its torches flung red shadows on the trees, its wheels resounded through the night's quiet with a music as of silver bells. And sitting in his state alone, grand but smiling, was the lord of all this splendor. The chariot stopped, and he dismounted. Then the whole train vanished, and, shorn of all his glories, except a certain brightness which his very presence seemed to shed, the king, if he were indeed such, stood beside the trembling peasant maid. He did not address her, but looked in her face inquiringly, until Hyldreda felt herself forced to be the first to speak. "My lord, who art thou, and what is thy will with me?" He smiled. "Thanks, gentle maiden, for thy question has taken off the spell. Otherwise it could not be broken, even by Kong Tolv." Hyldreda shuddered with fear. Her fingers tried to seize the cross which always lay on her breast, but no! she had thrown aside the coarse black wooden crucifix, while dreaming of ornaments of gold. And it was St. John's Eve, and she stood beneath the haunted oakwood. No power had she to fly, and her prayers died on her lips, for she knew herself in the Hill-king's power. Kong Tolv began to woo, after the elfin fashion, brief and bold. "Fair maiden, the Dronningstolen is empty, and 'tis thou must fill it. Come and enter my palace under the hill." But the maiden sobbed out that she was too lowly to sit on a queen's chair, and that none of mortals, save the dead, made their home underground. And she prayed the Elle-king to let her go back to her mother and little Resa. He only laughed. "Wouldst be content, then, with the poor cottage, and the black bread, and the labor from morn till eve. Didst thou not * Dronningstolen, or Queen's Chair. of thyself wish for a palace and a lord like me? And did not the Hyldemoer waft me the wish, so that I came to meet and welcome thee under the hill ?" Hyldreda made one despairing effort to escape, but she heard again Kong Tolv's proud laugh, and looking up, she saw that the thick oak-wood In place of every had changed to an army. tree stood a fierce warrior, ready to guard every step. She thought it must be all a delirious dream that would vanish with the the morning. Suddenly she heard the far village clock strike the hour. Mechanically she counted-onetwo-three-four-up to twelve. As she pronounced the last word, Kong Tolv "Thou hast caught her in his arms, saying, named me and art mine." Instantly all the scene vanished, and Hyldreda found herself standing on the bleak side of a little hill, alone in the moonlight. But very soon the clear night darkened, and a heavy storm arose. Trembling, she looked around for shelter, and saw in the hill-side a tiny door, which seemed She did so! In a moto invite her to enter. ment she stood dazzled by a blaze of light-a She mortal amidst the festival of the elves. heard the voice of Kong Tolv, half-speaking, half-singing, "Welcome, maiden, fair and free, Thou hast come of thyself in the hill to me; And bewildered by the music, the dance, and The mortal maiden became the Elle-king's bride, and lived in the hill for seven long years; at least, so they seemed in Elfinland, where time passes like the passing of a strain of music, that dies but to be again renewed. Little thought had she of the world above ground, for in the hill-palace was continual pleasure, and magniNo remembrance of lost ficence without end. kindred troubled her, for she sat in the Dronningstolen, and all the elfin people bowed down before the wife of the mighty Kong Tolv. 327 she could see her present self, gorgeously clad. She said to her lord, "Let me go back for a little while to my native village, and my ancien home, that I may show them all my splendor, and my greatness. Let me enter, sitting in my gilded chariot, with the four white horses, and feel myself as queen-like as the lady I once saw "But," beneath the oak-wood." Kong Tolv laughed, and assented. he said, "keep thy own proud self the while. carry thee The first sigh, the first tear, and I back into the hill with shame." So Hyldreda left the fairy-palace, sweeping through the village, with a pageant worthy a queen. Thus in her haughtiness, after seven years had gone by, she came to her mother's door. Seven years, none of which had cast one shadow on the daughter's beauty. But time The one knew not and grief together had bowed the mother almost to the verge of the grave. the other, until little Resa came between; little Resa, who looked her sister's olden self, blooming in the sweetness of seventeen. Nothing to her was the magnificence of the beautiful guest; she only saw Hyldreda, the lost and found. "Where hast thou been?" said the mother, doubtfully, when in answer to all their caresses, the stately lady only looked on them with a proud smile; "Who thee those grand dresses, and put the matron's vail upon thy hair?" gave "I am the Hill-king's wife," said Hyldreda. "I dwell in a gorgeous palace, and sit on a queen's throne." "God preserve thee !" answered the mother. But Hyldreda turned away, for Kong Tolv had commanded her never to hear or utter the holy She began to inquire about her longName. forgotten home, but half-carelessly, as if she had no interest in it now. "And who was it," she asked, "that wept on the hill-side until the tears dropped through, staining my palace walls?" "I," answered Resa, blushing; and then Hyldreda perceived that, young as she was, the girl wore the matron's head-tire. "I, sitting there with my babe, wept to think of my poor sister who died long ago, and never knew the And sweetness of wifehood and motherhood. almost it grieved me, to think that my love had blotted out the bitterness of her memory even from the heart of Esbern Lynge." She might have lived so always, with no desire ever to go back to earth, save that one day she saw trickling down through the palace roof a pearly stream. The elves fled away, for they At the name, proudly laughed the elder said it was some mortal weeping on the grassy hill overhead. But Hyldreda staid and looked sister, "Take thy husband, and be happy, girl; on until the stream settled into a clear, pellucid I envy thee not; I am the wife of the great pool. A sweet mirror it made, and the Hillking's bride ever loved to see her own beauty. So she went and gazed down into the shining Hill-king." Does he sit "And does thy lord love thee? beside thee at eve, and let thee lean thy tired head on his breast, as Esbern does with me? And hast thou young children dancing about thy feet, and a little blue-eyed one to creep dove-like to thy heart at nights, as mine does? Say, dear sister, art thou as happy as I?" Hyldreda paused. Earth's sweet ties arose before her, and the grandeur of her lot seemed only loneliness. Forgetting her lord's command, she sighed, she even wept one regretful tear; and that moment in her presence stood Kong Tolv. "Kill me, but save my mother, my sister," cried the wife, with a broken heart. The prayer was needless; they saw not the Elleking, and he marked not them-he only bore away Hyldreda, singing mockingly in her ear something of the same rhyme which had bound her his : Complainest thou here all drearilyCamest thou not of thyself in the hill to me? And stayest thou here thy lot to deplore? Camest thou not of thyself in at my door?" When the mother and sister of Hyldreda lifted up their eyes, they saw nothing but a cloud of dust sweeping past the cottage-door, they heard nothing but the ancient elder-tree howling aloud as its branches were tossed about in a gust of wintry wind. Kong Tolv took back to the hill his mortal bride. There he set her in a golden chair, and brought to her to drink a silver horn of elfinwine, in the which he had dropped an ear of wheat. At the first draught, she forgot the village where she had dwelt-at the second, she forgot the sister who had been her darling -at the third, she forgot the mother who bore her. Again she rejoiced in the glories of the fairy-palace, and in the life of never-ceasing pleasure. Month after month rolled by-by her scarce counted, or counted only in jest, as she would number a handful of roses, all held so fast and sure, that none could fall or fade; or as she would mark one by one the little waves of a rivulet whose source was eternally flowing. Hyldreda thought no more of any earthly thing, until there came, added to her own, a young, new life. When her beautiful babe, half-elf, half-mortal, nestled in her woman's breast, it wakened there the fountain of human love, and of long-forgotten memories. ," "Oh! let me go home once-once more," she implored of her lord. "Let me go to ask my mother's forgiveness, and above all, to crave the church's blessing on this my innocent babe." Kong Tolv frowned, and then looked sad. For it is the one great sorrow of the Ellepeople, that they, with all others of the elfin race, are shut out from Heaven's mercy. Therefore do they often steal mortal wives, and strive to have their children christened according to holy rite, in order to participate in the blessings granted to the offspring of Adam. "Do as thou wilt," the Hill-king answered; "but know, there awaits a penalty. In exchange for a soul, must be given a life." His dark saying fell coldly on the heart of the young mother. It terrified her for a time, but soon the sweet strange wiles of her elfin-babe beguiled her into renewed happiness; so that her longing faded away. An Its The child grew not like a mortal child. unearthly beauty was in its face; wondrous precocious signs marked it from its birth. baby-speech was very wisdom. Its baby-smile was full of thought. The mother read her olden soul-the pure soul that was hers of yore—in her infant's eyes. One day when Hyldreda was following the child in its play, she noticed it disappear through what seemed the outlet of the fairy-palace, which outlet she herself had never been able to find. She forgot that her boy was of elfin as well as of mortal race. Out it passed, the mother eagerly pursuing, until she found herself with the child in a meadow near the village of Skjelskör, where years ago she had often played. It was on a Sunday morning, and cheerfully yet solemnly rang out the chapel-bells. sounds and sights of earth came back upon her, with a longing that would not be restrained. All the In the white frozen grass, for it was wintertime, knelt the wife of Kong Tolv, holding fast to her bosom the elfin babe, who shivered at every blast of wind, yet, shivering, seemed to smile. Hyldreda knelt, until the chapel-bells ceased at service-time. And then there came bursting from her lips the long-sealed prayers. the prayers of her childhood. While she breathed them, the rich fairy garments crumbled from her, and she remained clad in the coarse dress she wore when Kong Tolv carried her away; save that it hung in miserable tatters, as if worn for years, and through its rents the icy wind pierced her bosom, so that the heart within might have sunk and died, but for the ever-abiding warmth of maternal love. That told her how in one other mother's heart there must be warmth still. "I will go home," she murmured, “I will say, 'Mother, take me in and save me, or else I die !' "' And so, when the night closed, and all the villagers were safe at home, and none could mock at her and her misery, the poor desolate one crept to her mother's door. It had been open to her even when she came in her pride; how would it be closed against her sorrow and humility? And was there ever a true mother's breast, that while life yet throb. bed there, was not a refuge for a repentant child? But the Hyldreda found shelter and rest. little elfin babe, unused to the air of earth, uttered continual moanings. At night, the strange eyes never closed, but looked at her with a dumb entreaty. And tenfold returned the mother's first desire, that her darling should become a "christened child." Much the old grandame gloried in this, looking with distrust on the pining, withered babe. But keenly upon Hyldreda's memory came back the saying of Kong Tolv, that for a soul would be exchanged a life. It must be hers. That, doubtless, was the purchase; and thus had Heaven ordained the expiation of her sin. If so, meekly she would offer it, so that Heaven would admit into its mercy her beloved child. |