The Pilgrims of the Rhine

by Baron Edward Bulwer Lytton Lytton

  CHAPTER XIX. THE FALLEN STAR; OR THE HISTORY OF A FALSE RELIGION.

  AND the STARS sat, each on his ruby throne, and watched with sleeplesseyes upon the world. It was the night ushering in the new year, a nighton which every star receives from the archangel that then visits theuniversal galaxy its peculiar charge. The destinies of men and empiresare then portioned forth for the coming year, and, unconsciously toourselves, our fates become minioned to the stars. A hushed and solemnnight is that in which the dark gates of time open to receive the ghostof the Dead Year, and the young and radiant Stranger rushes forth fromthe clouded chasms of Eternity. On that night, it is said that there aregiven to the spirits that we see not a privilege and a power; the deadare troubled in their forgotten graves, and men feast and laugh, whiledemon and angel are contending for their doom.

  It was night in heaven; all was unutterably silent; the music of thespheres had paused, and not a sound came from the angels of the stars;and they who sat upon those shining thrones were three thousand and ten,each resembling each. Eternal youth clothed their radiant limbswith celestial beauty, and on their faces was written the dread ofcalm,--that fearful stillness which feels not, sympathizes not with thedoom over which it broods. War, tempest, pestilence, the rise ofempires and their fall, they ordain, they compass, unexultant anduncompassionate. The fell and thrilling crimes that stalk abroad whenthe world sleeps,--the parricide with his stealthy step and horrent browand lifted knife; the unwifed mother that glides out and looks behind,and behind, and shudders, and casts her babe upon the river, and hearsthe wail, and pities not--the splash, and does not tremble,--these thestarred kings behold, to these they lead the unconscious step; butthe guilt blanches not their lustre, neither doth remorse wither theirunwrinkled youth. Each star wore a kingly diadem; round the loins ofeach was a graven belt, graven with many and mighty signs; and the footof each was on a burning ball, and the right arm drooped over the kneeas they bent down from their thrones. They moved not a limb or feature,save the finger of the right hand, which ever and anon moved slowlypointing, and regulated the fates of men as the hand of the dial speaksthe career of time.

  One only of the three thousand and ten wore not the same aspect as hiscrowned brethren,--a star smaller than the rest, and less luminous; thecountenance of this star was not impressed with the awful calmness ofthe others, but there were sullenness and discontent upon his mightybrow.

  And this star said to himself, "Behold! I am created less gloriousthan my fellows, and the archangel apportions not to me the same lordlydestinies. Not for me are the dooms of kings and bards, the rulers ofempires, or, yet nobler, the swayers and harmonists of souls. Sluggishare the spirits and base the lot of the men I am ordained to leadthrough a dull life to a fameless grave. And wherefore? Is it mine ownfault, or is it the fault which is not mine, that I was woven of beamsless glorious than my brethren? Lo! when the archangel comes, I willbow not my crowned head to his decrees. I will speak, as the ancestralLucifer before me: _he_ rebelled because of his glory, _I_ because ofmy obscurity; _he_ from the ambition of pride, and _I_ from itsdiscontent."

  And while the star was thus communing with himself, the upward heavenswere parted as by a long river of light, and adown that stream swiftly,and without sound, sped the archangel visitor of the stars. His vastlimbs floated in the liquid lustre, and his outspread wings, each plumethe glory of a sun, bore him noiselessly along; but thick clouds veiledhis lustre from the eyes of mortals, and while above all was bathed inthe serenity of his splendour, tempest and storm broke below over thechildren of the earth: "He bowed the heavens and came down, and darknesswas under his feet."

  And the stillness on the faces of the stars became yet more still, andthe awfulness was humbled into awe. Right above their thrones pausedthe course of the archangel; and his wings stretched from east to west,overshadowing with the shadow of light the immensity of space. Thenforth, in the shining stillness, rolled the dread music of his voice:and, fulfilling the heraldry of God, to each star he appointed the dutyand the charge; and each star bowed his head yet lower as he heard thefiat, while his throne rocked and trembled at the Majesty of theWord. But at last, when each of the brighter stars had, in succession,received the mandate, and the viceroyalty over the nations of the earth,the purple and diadems of kings, the archangel addressed the lesser staras he sat apart from his fellows.

  "Behold," said the archangel, "the rude tribes of the North, thefishermen of the river that flows beneath, and the hunters of theforests that darken the mountain tops with verdure! these be thy charge,and their destinies thy care. Nor deem thou, O Star of the sullen beams,that thy duties are less glorious than the duties of thy brethren; forthe peasant is not less to thy master and mine than the monarch; nordoth the doom of empires rest more upon the sovereign than on the herd.The passions and the heart are the dominion of the stars,--a mightyrealm; nor less mighty beneath the hide that garbs the shepherd thanunder the jewelled robes of the eastern kings."

  Then the star lifted his pale front from his breast, and answered thearchangel.

  "Lo!" he said, "ages have passed, and each year thou hast appointed meto the same ignoble charge. Release me, I pray thee, from the dutiesthat I scorn; or, if thou wilt that the lowlier race of men be mycharge, give unto me the charge not of many, but of one, and sufferme to breathe into him the desire that spurns the valleys of life, andascends its steeps. If the humble are given to me, let there be amongstthem one whom I may lead on the mission that shall abase the proud; for,behold, O Appointer of the Stars, as I have sat for uncounted years uponmy solitary throne, brooding over the things beneath, my spirit hathgathered wisdom from the changes that shift below. Looking upon thetribes of earth, I have seen how the multitude are swayed, and trackedthe steps that lead weakness into power; and fain would I be the rulerof one who, if abased, shall aspire to rule."

  As a sudden cloud over the face of noon was the change on the brow ofthe archangel.

  "Proud and melancholy star," said the herald, "thy wish would war withthe courses of the invisible DESTINY, that, throned far above, swaysand harmonizes all,--the source from which the lesser rivers of fate areeternally gushing through the heart of the universe of things. Thinkestthou that thy wisdom, of itself, can lead the peasant to become a king?"

  And the crowned star gazed undauntedly on the face of the archangel, andanswered,--

  "Yea! Grant me but one trial!"

  Ere the archangel could reply, the farthest centre of the Heaven wasrent as by a thunderbolt; and the divine herald covered his face withhis hands, and a voice low and sweet and mild, with the consciousness ofunquestionable power, spoke forth to the repining star.

  "The time has arrived when thou mayest have thy wish. Below thee, uponyon solitary plain, sits a mortal, gloomy as thyself, who, born underthy influence, may be moulded to thy will."

  The voice ceased as the voice of a dream. Silence was over the seas ofspace, and the archangel, once more borne aloft, slowly soared away intothe farther heaven, to promulgate the divine bidding to the stars offar-distant worlds. But the soul of the discontented star exulted withinitself; and it said, "I will call forth a king from the valley of theherdsman that shall trample on the kings subject to my fellows, andrender the charge of the contemned star more glorious than the minionsof its favoured brethren; thus shall I revenge neglect! thus shall Iprove my claim hereafter to the heritage of the great of earth!"

  .......

  At that time, though the world had rolled on for ages, and thepilgrimage of man had passed through various states of existence, whichour dim traditionary knowledge has not preserved, yet the condition ofour race in the northern hemisphere was then what we, in our imperfectlore, have conceived to be among the earliest.

  .......

  By a rude and vast pile of stones, the masonry of arts forgotten, alonely man sat at midnight, gazing upon the heavens. A storm had justpassed from the earth; the clouds had rolled away, and the high starslooked down upon the rapid waters of the
Rhine; and no sound save theroar of the waves, and the dripping of the rain from the mighty trees,was heard around the ruined pile. The white sheep lay scattered on theplain, and slumber with them. He sat watching over the herd, lest thefoes of a neighbouring tribe seized them unawares, and thus he communedwith himself: "The king sits upon his throne, and is honoured by awarrior race, and the warrior exults in the trophies he has won; thestep of the huntsman is bold upon the mountain-top, and his name issung at night round the pine-fires by the lips of the bard; and the bardhimself hath honour in the hall. But I, who belong not to the race ofkings, and whose limbs can bound not to the rapture of war, nor scalethe eyries of the eagle and the haunts of the swift stag; whose handcannot string the harp, and whose voice is harsh in the song,--_I_ haveneither honour nor command, and men bow not the head as I pass along;yet do I feel within me the consciousness of a great power that shouldrule my species--not obey. My eye pierces the secret hearts of men. Isee their thoughts ere their lips proclaim them; and I scorn, while Isee, the weakness and the vices which I never shared. I laugh at themadness of the warrior; I mock within my soul at the tyranny of kings.Surely there is something in man's nature more fitted to command, moreworthy of renown, than the sinews of the arm, or the swiftness of thefeet, or the accident of birth!"

  As Morven, the son of Osslah, thus mused within himself, still lookingat the heavens, the solitary man beheld a star suddenly shooting fromits place, and speeding through the silent air, till it suddenly pausedright over the midnight river, and facing the inmate of the pile ofstones.

  As he gazed upon the star, strange thoughts grew slowly over him. Hedrank, as it were, from its solemn aspect the spirit of a great design.A dark cloud rapidly passing over the earth snatched the star from hissight, but left to his awakened mind the thoughts and the dim schemethat had come to him as he gazed.

  When the sun arose, one of his brethren relieved him of his charge overthe herd, and he went away, but not to his father's home. Musingly heplunged into the dark and leafless recesses of the winter forest; andshaped out of his wild thoughts, more palpably and clearly, the outlineof his daring hope. While thus absorbed he heard a great noise in theforest, and, fearful lest the hostile tribe of the Alrich might piercethat way, he ascended one of the loftiest pine-trees, to whose perpetualverdure the winter had not denied the shelter he sought; and, concealedby its branches, he looked anxiously forth in the direction whence thenoise had proceeded. And IT came,--it came with a tramp and a crash, anda crushing tread upon the crunched boughs and matted leaves that strewedthe soil; it came, it came,--the monster that the world now holdsno more,--the mighty Mammoth of the North! Slowly it moved its hugestrength along, and its burning eyes glittered through the gloomy shade;its jaws, falling apart, showed the grinders with which it snappedasunder the young oaks of the forest; and the vast tusks, which, curveddownward to the midst of its massive limbs, glistened white and ghastly,curdling the blood of one destined hereafter to be the dreadest ruler ofthe men of that distant age.

  The livid eyes of the monster fastened on the form of the herdsman, evenamidst the thick darkness of the pine. It paused, it glared upon him;its jaws opened, and a low deep sound, as of gathering thunder, seemedto the son of Osslah as the knell of a dreadful grave. But after glaringon him for some moments, it again, and calmly, pursued its terribleway, crashing the boughs as it marched along, till the last sound of itsheavy tread died away upon his ear.*

  * _The Critic_ will perceive that this sketch of the beast, whose race has perished, is mainly intended to designate the remote period of the world in which the tale is cast.

  Ere yet, however, Morven summoned the courage to descend the tree,he saw the shining of arms through the bare branches of the wood, andpresently a small band of the hostile Alrich came into sight. He wasperfectly hidden from them; and, listening as they passed him, he heardone say to another,--

  "The night covers all things; why attack them by day?"

  And he who seemed the chief of the band, answered,--

  "Right. To-night, when they sleep in their city, we will upon them. Lo!they will be drenched in wine, and fall like sheep into our hands."

  "But where, O chief," said a third of the band, "shall our men hideduring the day? for there are many hunters among the youth of theOestrich tribe, and they might see us in the forest unawares, and armtheir race against our coming."

  "I have prepared for that," answered the chief. "Is not the darkcavern of Oderlin at hand? Will it not shelter us from the eyes of thevictims?"

  Then the men laughed, and, shouting, they went their way adown theforest.

  When they were gone, Morven cautiously descended, and, striking into abroad path, hastened to a vale that lay between the forest and the riverin which was the city where the chief of his country dwelt. As he passedby the warlike men, giants in that day, who thronged the streets (ifstreets they might be called), their half garments parting from theirhuge limbs, the quiver at their backs, and the hunting spear in theirhand, they laughed and shouted out, and, pointing to him, cried, "Morventhe woman! Morven the cripple! what dost thou among men?"

  For the son of Osslah was small in stature and of slender strength, andhis step had halted from his birth; but he passed through the warriorsunheedingly. At the outskirts of the city he came upon a tall pile inwhich some old men dwelt by themselves, and counselled the king whentimes of danger, or when the failure of the season, the famine or thedrought, perplexed the ruler, and clouded the savage fronts of hiswarrior tribe.

  They gave the counsels of experience, and when experience failed, theydrew, in their believing ignorance, assurances and omens from the windsof heaven, the changes of the moon, and the flights of the wanderingbirds. Filled--by the voices of the elements, and the variety ofmysteries, which ever shift along the face of things, unsolved by thewonder which pauses not, the fear which believes, and that eternalreasoning of all experience, which assigns causes to effect--withthe notion of superior powers, they assisted their ignorance by theconjectures of their superstition. But as yet they knew no craftand practised no _voluntary_ delusion; they trembled too much at themysteries which had created their faith to seek to belie them. Theycounselled as they believed, and the bold dream of governing theirwarriors and their kings by the wisdom of deceit had never dared tocross men thus worn and gray with age.

  The son of Osslah entered the vast pile with a fearless step, andapproached the place at the upper end of the hall where the old men satin conclave.

  "How, base-born and craven-limbed!" cried the eldest, who had beena noted warrior in his day, "darest thou enter unsummoned amidst thesecret councils of the wise men? Knowest thou not, scatterling! that thepenalty is death?"

  "Slay me, if thou wilt," answered Morven, "but hear! As I sat last nightin the ruined palace of our ancient kings, tending, as my father bademe, the sheep that grazed around, lest the fierce tribe of Alrich shoulddescend unseen from the mountains upon the herd, a storm came darkly on;and when the storm had ceased, and I looked above on the sky, I saw astar descend from its height towards me, and a voice from the star said:'Son of Osslah, leave thy herd and seek the council of the wise menand say unto them, that they take thee as one of their number, or thatsudden will be the destruction of them and theirs.' But I had courageto answer the voice, and I said, 'Mock not the poor son of the herdsman.Behold, they will kill me if I utter so rash a word, for I am poor andvalueless in the eyes of the tribe of Oestrich, and the great in deedsand the gray of hair alone sit in the council of the wise men.'

  "Then the voice said: 'Do my bidding, and I will give thee a token thatthou comest from the Powers that sway the seasons and sail upon theeagles of the winds. Say unto the wise men this very night if theyrefuse to receive thee of their band, evil shall fall upon them, and themorrow shall dawn in blood.'

  "Then the voice ceased, and the cloud passed over the star; and Icommuned with myself, and came, O dread father, mournfully unto you; forI feared that ye would smite me because
of my bold tongue, and that yewould sentence me to the death, in that I asked what may scarce be giveneven to the sons of kings."

  Then the grim elders looked one at the other, and marvelled much, norknew they what answer they should make to the herdsman's son.

  At length one of the wise men said, "Surely there must be truth in theson of Osslah, for he would not dare to falsify the great lights ofHeaven. If he had given unto men the words of the star, verily wemight doubt the truth. But who would brave the vengeance of the gods ofnight?"

  Then the elders shook their heads approvingly; but one answered andsaid,--

  "Shall we take the herdsman's son as our equal? No!" The name of the manwho thus answered was Darvan, and his words were pleasing to the elders.

  But Morven spoke out: "Of a truth, O councillors of kings, I look not tobe an equal with yourselves. Enough if I tend the gates of your palace,and serve you as the son of Osslah may serve;" and he bowed his headhumbly as he spoke.

  Then said the chief of the elders, for he was wiser than the others,"But how wilt thou deliver us from the evil that is to come? Doubtlessthe star has informed thee of the service thou canst render to us if wetake thee into our palace, as well as the ill that will fall on us if werefuse."

  Morven answered meekly, "Surely, if thou acceptest thy servant, the starwill teach him that which may requite thee; but as yet he knows onlywhat he has uttered."

  Then the sages bade him withdraw, and they communed with themselves, andthey differed much; but though fierce men, and bold at the war-cry of ahuman foe, they shuddered at the prophecy of a star. So they resolvedto take the son of Osslah, and suffer him to keep the gate of thecouncil-hall.

  He heard their decree and bowed his head, and went to the gate, and satdown by it in silence.

  And the sun went down in the west, and the first stars of the twilightbegan to glimmer, when Morven started from his seat, and a tremblingappeared to seize his limbs. His lips foamed; an agony and a fearpossessed him; he writhed as a man whom the spear of a foeman haspierced with a mortal wound, and suddenly fell upon his face on thestony earth.

  The elders approached him; wondering, they lifted him up. He slowlyrecovered as from a swoon; his eyes rolled wildly.

  "Heard ye not the voice of the star?" he said.

  And the chief of the elders answered, "Nay, we heard no sound."

  Then Morven sighed heavily.

  "To me only the word was given. Summon instantly, O councillors of theking, summon the armed men, and all the youth of the tribe, and let themtake the sword and the spear, and follow thy servant! For lo! the starhath announced to him that the foe shall fall into our hands as the wildbeasts of the forests."

  The son of Osslah spoke with the voice of command, and the elders wereamazed. "Why pause ye?" he cried. "Do the gods of the night lie? On myhead rest the peril if I deceive ye."

  Then the elders communed together; and they went forth and summoned themen of arms, and all the young of the tribe; and each man took the swordand the spear, and Morven also. And the son of Osslah walked first,still looking up at the star, and he motioned them to be silent, andmoved with a stealthy step.

  So they went through the thickest of the forest, till they came to themouth of a great cave, overgrown with aged and matted trees, and it wascalled the Cave of Oberlin; and he bade the leaders place the armed menon either side the cave, to the right and to the left, among the bushes.

  So they watched silently till the night deepened, when they heard anoise in the cave and the sound of feet, and forth came an armed man;and the spear of Morven pierced him, and he fell dead at the mouth ofthe cave. Another and another, and both fell! Then loud and long washeard the war-cry of Alrich, and forth poured, as a stream over a narrowbed, the river of armed men. And the sons of Oestrich fell upon them,and the foe were sorely perplexed and terrified by the suddenness of thebattle and the darkness of the night; and there was a great slaughter.

  And when the morning came, the children of Oestrich counted the slain,and found the leader of Alrich and the chief men of the tribe amongstthem; and great was the joy thereof. So they went back in triumph to thecity, and they carried the brave son of Osslah on their shoulders, andshouted forth, "Glory to the servant of the star."

  And Morven dwelt in the council of the wise men.

  Now the king of the tribe had one daughter, and she was stately amongstthe women of the tribe, and fair to look upon. And Morven gazed upon herwith the eyes of love, but he did not dare to speak.

  Now the son of Osslah laughed secretly at the foolishness of men; heloved them not, for they had mocked him; he honoured them not, for hehad blinded the wisest of their leaders. He shunned their feasts andmerriment, and lived apart and solitary. The austerity of his lifeincreased the mysterious homage which his commune with the stars had wonhim, and the boldest of the warriors bowed his head to the favourite ofthe gods.

  One day he was wandering by the side of the river, and he saw a largebird of prey rise from the waters, and give chase to a hawk that had notyet gained the full strength of its wings. From his youth the solitaryMorven had loved to watch, in the great forests and by the banks of themighty stream, the habits of the things which nature has submitted toman; and looking now on the birds, he said to himself, "Thus is it ever;by cunning or by strength each thing wishes to master its kind." Whilethus moralizing, the larger bird had stricken down the hawk, and it fellterrified and panting at his feet. Morven took the hawk in his hands,and the vulture shrieked above him, wheeling nearer and nearer to itsprotected prey; but Morven scared away the vulture, and placing the hawkin his bosom he carried it home, and tended it carefully, and fed itfrom his hand until it had regained its strength; and the hawk knew him,and followed him as a dog. And Morven said, smiling to himself, "Behold,the credulous fools around me put faith in the flight and motion ofbirds. I will teach this poor hawk to minister to my ends." So he tamedthe bird, and tutored it according to its nature; but he concealed itcarefully from others, and cherished it in secret.

  The king of the country was old, and like to die, and the eyes of thetribe were turned to his two sons, nor knew they which was the worthierto reign. And Morven, passing through the forest one evening, saw theyounger of the two, who was a great hunter, sitting mournfully under anoak, and looking with musing eyes upon the ground.

  "Wherefore musest thou, O swift-footed Siror?" said the son of Osslah;"and wherefore art thou sad?"

  "Thou canst not assist me," answered the prince, sternly; "take thyway."

  "Nay," answered Morven, "thou knowest not what thou sayest; am I not thefavourite of the stars?"

  "Away, I am no graybeard whom the approach of death makes doting: talknot to me of the stars; I know only the things that my eye sees and myear drinks in."

  "Hush," said Morven, solemnly, and covering his face; "hush! lest theheavens avenge thy rashness. But, behold, the stars have given unto meto pierce the secret hearts of others; and I can tell thee the thoughtsof thine."

  "Speak out, base-born!"

  "Thou art the younger of two, and thy name is less known in war than thename of thy brother: yet wouldst thou desire to be set over his head,and to sit on the high seat of thy father?"

  The young man turned pale. "Thou hast truth in thy lips," said he, witha faltering voice.

  "Not from me, but from the stars, descends the truth."

  "Can the stars grant my wish?"

  "They can: let us meet to-morrow." Thus saying, Morven passed into theforest.

  The next day, at noon, they met again.

  "I have consulted the gods of night, and they have given me the powerthat I prayed for, but on one condition."

  "Name it."

  "That thou sacrifice thy sister on their altars; thou must build up aheap of stones, and take thy sister into the wood, and lay her on thepile, and plunge thy sword into her heart; so only shalt thou reign."

  The prince shuddered, and started to his feet, and shook his spear atthe pale front of Morven.r />
  "Tremble," said the son of Osslah, with a loud voice. "Hark to the godswho threaten thee with death, that thou hast dared to lift thine armagainst their servant!"

  As he spoke, the thunder rolled above; for one of the frequent storms ofthe early summer was about to break. The spear dropped from the prince'shand; he sat down, and cast his eyes on the ground.

  "Wilt thou do the bidding of the stars, and reign?" said Morven.

  "I will!" cried Siror, with a desperate voice.

  "This evening, then, when the sun sets, thou wilt lead her hither,alone; I may not attend thee. Now, let us pile the stones."

  Silently the huntsman bent his vast strength to the fragments of rockthat Morven pointed to him, and they built the altar, and went theirway.

  And beautiful is the dying of the great sun, when the last song of thebirds fades into the lap of silence; when the islands of the cloud arebathed in light, and the first star springs up over the grave of day!

  "Whither leadest thou my steps, my brother?" said Orna; "and why doththy lip quiver; and why dost thou turn away thy face?"

  "Is not the forest beautiful; does it not tempt us forth, my sister?"

  "And wherefore are those heaps of stone piled together?"

  "Let others answer; I piled them not."

  "Thou tremblest, brother: we will return."

  "Not so; by these stones is a bird that my shaft pierced today,--a birdof beautiful plumage that I slew for thee."

  "We are by the pile; where hast thou laid the bird?"

  "Here!" cried Siror; and he seized the maiden in his arms, and, castingher on the rude altar, he drew forth his sword to smite her to theheart.

  Right over the stones rose a giant oak, the growth of immemorial ages;and from the oak, or from the heavens, broke forth a loud and solemnvoice, "Strike not, son of kings! the stars forbear their own: themaiden thou shalt not slay; yet shalt thou reign over the race ofOestrich; and thou shalt give Orna as a bride to the favourite of thestars. Arise, and go thy way!"

  The voice ceased: the terror of Orna had overpowered for a time thesprings of life; and Siror bore her home through the wood in his strongarms.

  "Alas!" said Morven, when, at the next day, he again met the aspiringprince; "alas! the stars have ordained me a lot which my heart desiresnot: for I, lonely of life, and crippled of shape, am insensible to thefires of love; and ever, as thou and thy tribe know, I have shunned theeyes of women, for the maidens laughed at my halting step and my sullenfeatures; and so in my youth I learned betimes to banish all thoughtsof love. But since they told me (as they declared to _thee_), that onlythrough that marriage, thou, O beloved prince! canst obtain thy father'splumed crown, I yield me to their will."

  "But," said the prince, "not until I am king can I give thee my sisterin marriage; for thou knowest that my sire would smite me to the dustif I asked him to give the flower of our race to the son of the herdsmanOsslah."

  "Thou speakest the words of truth. Go home and fear not; but, when thouart king, the sacrifice must be made, and Orna mine. Alas! how can Idare to lift mine eyes to her! But so ordain the dread kings of thenight!--who shall gainsay their word?"

  "The day that sees me king sees Orna thine," answered the prince.

  Morven walked forth, as was his wont, alone; and he said to himself,"The king is old, yet may he live long between me and mine hope!" and hebegan to cast in his mind how he might shorten the time. Thus absorbed,he wandered on so unheedingly that night advanced, and he had lost hispath among the thick woods and knew not how to regain his home. So helay down quietly beneath a tree, and rested till day dawned; then hungercame upon him, and he searched among the bushes for such simple rootsas those with which, for he was ever careless of food, he was used toappease the cravings of nature.

  He found, among other more familiar herbs and roots, a red berry ofa sweetish taste, which he had never observed before. He ate of itsparingly, and had not proceeded far in the wood before he found hiseyes swim, and a deadly sickness came over him. For several hours he layconvulsed on the ground, expecting death; but the gaunt spareness of hisframe, and his unvarying abstinence, prevailed over the poison, and herecovered slowly, and after great anguish. But he went with feeble stepsback to the spot where the berries grew, and, plucking several, hid themin his bosom, and by nightfall regained the city.

  The next day he went forth among his father's herds, and seizing a lamb,forced some of the berries into his stomach, and the lamb, escaping, ranaway, and fell down dead. Then Morven took some more of the berries andboiled them down, and mixed the juice with wine, and he gave the wine insecret to one of his father's servants, and the servant died.

  Then Morven sought the king, and coming into his presence, alone, hesaid unto him, "How fares my lord?"

  The king sat on a couch made of the skins of wolves, and his eye wasglassy and dim; but vast were his aged limbs, and huge was his stature,and he had been taller by a head than the children of men, and noneliving could bend the bow he had bent in youth; gray, gaunt, andworn, as some mighty bones that are dug at times from the bosom of theearth,--a relic of the strength of old.

  And the king said faintly, and with a ghastly laugh, "The men of myyears fare ill. What avails my strength? Better had I been born acripple like thee, so should I have had nothing to lament in growingold."

  The red flush passed over Morven's brow; but he bent humbly,--

  "O king, what if I could give thee back thy youth? What if I couldrestore to thee the vigour which distinguished thee above the sons ofmen, when the warriors of Alrich fell like grass before thy sword?"

  Then the king uplifted his dull eyes, and he said,--

  "What meanest thou, son of Osslah? Surely I hear much of thy greatwisdom, and how thou speakest nightly with the stars. Can the gods ofthe night give unto thee the secret to make the old young?"

  "Tempt them not by doubt," said Morven, reverently. "All things arepossible to the rulers of the dark hour; and, lo! the star that lovesthy servant spake to him at the dead of night, and said, 'Arise, and gounto the king; and tell him that the stars honour the tribe of Oestrich,and remember how the king bent his bow against the sons of Alrich;wherefore, look thou under the stone that lies to the right of thydwelling, even beside the pine tree, and thou shalt see a vessel ofclay, and in the vessel thou wilt find a sweet liquid, that shall makethe king thy master forget his age forever.' Therefore, my lord, whenthe morning rose I went forth, and looked under the stone, and beholdthe vessel of clay; and I have brought it hither to my lord the king."

  "Quick, slave, quick! that I may drink and regain my youth!"

  "Nay, listen, O king! further said the star to me,--

  "'It is only at night, when the stars have power, that this their giftwill avail; wherefore the king must wait till the hush of the midnight,when the moon is high, and then may he mingle the liquid with his wine.And he must reveal to none that he hath received the gift from the handof the servant of the stars. For THEY do their work in secret, and whenmen sleep; therefore they love not the babble of mouths, and he whoreveals their benefits shall surely die."

  "Fear not," said the king, grasping the vessel; "none shall know: and,behold, I will rise on the morrow; and my two sons, wrangling for mycrown--verily I shall be younger than they!"

  Then the king laughed loud; and he scarcely thanked the servant of thestars, neither did he promise him reward; for the kings in those dayshad little thought save for themselves.

  And Morven said to him, "Shall I not attend my lord?--for without me,perchance, the drug might fail of its effect."

  "Ay," said the king, "rest here."

  "Nay," replied Morven; "thy servants will marvel and talk much, if theysee the son of Osslah sojourning in thy palace. So would the displeasureof the gods of night perchance be incurred. Suffer that the lesser doorof the palace be unbarred, so that at the night hour, when the moon ismidway in the heavens, I may steal unseen into thy chamber, and mix theliquid with thy wine."

  "
So be it," said the king. "Thou art wise, though thy limbs are crookedand curt; and the stars might have chosen a taller man." Then the kinglaughed again; and Morven laughed too, but there was danger in the mirthof the son of Osslah.

  The night had begun to wane, and the inhabitants of Oestrich were buriedin deep sleep, when, hark! a sharp voice was heard crying out in thestreets, "Woe, woe! Awake, ye sons of Oestrich! woe!" Then forth, wild,haggard, alarmed, spear in hand, rushed the giant sons of the ruggedtribe, and they saw a man on a height in the middle of the city,shrieking "Woe!" and it was Morven, the son of Osslah! And he said untothem, as they gathered round him, "Men and warriors, tremble as ye hear.The star of the west hath spoken to me, and thus said the star: 'Evilshall fall upon the kingly house of Oestrich,--yea, ere the morningdawn; wherefore, go thou mourning into the streets, and wake theinhabitants to woe!' So I rose and did the bidding of the star." Andwhile Morven was yet speaking, a servant of the king's house ran upto the crowd, crying loudly, "The king is dead!" So they went into thepalace and found the king stark upon his couch, and his huge limbs allcramped and crippled by the pangs of death, and his hands clenched as ifin menace of a foe,--the Foe of all living flesh! Then fear came on thegazers, and they looked on Morven with a deeper awe than the boldestwarrior would have called forth; and they bore him back to thecouncil-hall of the wise men, wailing and clashing their arms in woe,and shouting, ever and anon, "Honour to Morven the prophet!" And thatwas the first time the word PROPHET was ever used in those countries.

  At noon, on the third day from the king's death, Siror sought Morven,and he said, "Lo, my father is no more, and the people meet this eveningat sunset to elect his successor, and the warriors and the young menwill surely choose my brother, for he is more known in war. Fail me nottherefore."

  "Peace, boy!" said Morven, sternly; "nor dare to question the truth ofthe gods of night."

  For Morven now began to presume on his power among the people, and tospeak as rulers speak, even to the sons of kings; and the voice silencedthe fiery Siror, nor dared he to reply.

  "Behold," said Morven, taking up a chaplet of coloured plumes, "wearthis on thy head, and put on a brave face, for the people like a hopefulspirit, and go down with thy brother to the place where the new king isto be chosen, and leave the rest to the stars. But, above all things,forget not that chaplet; it has been blessed by the gods of night."

  The prince took the chaplet and returned home.

  It was evening, and the warriors and chiefs of the tribe were assembledin the place where the new king was to be elected. And the voices ofthe many favoured Prince Voltoch, the brother of Siror, for he had slaintwelve foemen with his spear; and verily, in those days, that was agreat virtue in a king.

  Suddenly there was a shout in the streets, and the people cried out,"Way for Morven the prophet, the prophet!" For the people held the sonof Osslah in even greater respect than did the chiefs. Now, since he hadbecome of note, Morven had assumed a majesty of air which the son of theherdsman knew not in his earlier days; and albeit his stature was short,and his limbs halted, yet his countenance was grave and high. He onlyof the tribe wore a garment that swept the ground, and his head was bareand his long black hair descended to his girdle, and rarely was changeor human passion seen in his calm aspect. He feasted not, nor drankwine, nor was his presence frequent in the streets. He laughed not,neither did he smile, save when alone in the forest,--and then helaughed at the follies of his tribe.

  So he walked slowly through the crowd, neither turning to the left norto the right, as the crowd gave way; and he supported his steps with astaff of the knotted pine.

  And when he came to the place where the chiefs were met, and the twoprinces stood in the centre, he bade the people around him proclaimsilence; then mounting on a huge fragment of rock, he thus spake to themultitude:--

  "Princes, Warriors, and Bards! ye, O council of the wise men! and ye, Ohunters of the forests and snarers of the fishes of the streams! hearkento Morven, the son of Osslah. Ye know that I am lowly of race and weakof limb; but did I not give into your hands the tribe of Alrich, and didye not slay them in the dead of night with a great slaughter? Surely, yemust know this of himself did not the herdsman's son; surely he was butthe agent of the bright gods that love the children of Oestrich! Threenights since when slumber was on the earth, was not my voice heard inthe streets? Did I not proclaim woe to the kingly house of Oestrich? andverily the dark arm had fallen on the bosom of the mighty, that is nomore. Could I have dreamed this thing merely in a dream, or was I notas the voice of the bright gods that watch over the tribes of Oestrich?Wherefore, O men and chiefs! scorn not the son of Osslah, but listen tohis words; for are they not the wisdom of the stars? Behold, last night,I sat alone in the valley, and the trees were hushed around, and nota breath stirred; and I looked upon the star that counsels the son ofOsslah; and I said, 'Dread conqueror of the cloud! thou that bathest thybeauty in the streams and piercest the pine-boughs with thy presence;behold thy servant grieved because the mighty one hath passed away, andmany foes surround the houses of my brethren; and it is well that theyshould have a king valiant and prosperous in war, the cherished of thestars. Wherefore, O star! as thou gavest into our hands the warriors ofAlrich, and didst warn us of the fall of the oak of our tribe, whereforeI pray thee give unto the people a token that they may choose that kingwhom the gods of the night prefer!' Then a low voice, sweeter than themusic of the bard, stole along the silence. 'Thy love for thy race isgrateful to the stars of night: go, then, son of Osslah, and seek themeeting of the chiefs and the people to choose a king, and tell them notto scorn thee because thou art slow to the chase, and little known inwar; for the stars give thee wisdom as a recompense for all. Say untothe people that as the wise men of the council shape their lessons bythe flight of birds, so by the flight of birds shall a token be givenunto them, and they shall choose their kings. For, saith the star ofnight, the birds are the children of the winds, they pass to and froalong the ocean of the air, and visit the clouds that are the war-shipsof the gods; and their music is but broken melodies which they gleanfrom the harps above. Are they not the messengers of the storm? Ere thestream chafes against the bank, and the rain descends, know ye not, bythe wail of birds and their low circle over the earth, that the tempestis at hand? Wherefore, wisely do ye deem that the children of the airare the fit interpreters between the sons of men and the lords of theworld above. Say then to the people and the chiefs that they shall take,from among the doves that build their nests in the roof of the palace, awhite dove, and they shall let it loose in the air, and verily the godsof the night shall deem the dove as a prayer coming from the people, andthey shall send a messenger to grant the prayer and give to the tribesof Oestrich a king worthy of themselves.'

  "With that the star spoke no more."