by Walter Scott
CHAPTER VI.
----If, by your art, you have Put the wild waters in this roar, allay them.
_Tempest._
The storm had somewhat relaxed its rigour just before the entrance ofNorna, otherwise she must have found it impossible to travel during theextremity of its fury. But she had hardly added herself so unexpectedlyto the party whom chance had assembled at the dwelling of TriptolemusYellowley, when the tempest suddenly resumed its former vehemence, andraged around the building with a fury which made the inmates insensibleto any thing except the risk that the old mansion was about to fallabove their heads.
Mistress Baby gave vent to her fears in loud exclamations of "The Lordguide us--this is surely the last day--what kind of a country ofguisards and gyre-carlines is this!--and you, ye fool carle," she added,turning on her brother, (for all her passions had a touch of acidity inthem,) "to quit the bonny Mearns land to come here, where there isnaething but sturdy beggars and gaberlunzies within ane's house, andHeaven's anger on the outside on't!"
"I tell you, sister Baby," answered the insulted agriculturist, "thatall shall be reformed and amended,--excepting," he added, betwixt histeeth, "the scaulding humours of an ill-natured jaud, that can addbitterness to the very storm!"
The old domestic and the pedlar meanwhile exhausted themselves inentreaties to Norna, of which, as they were couched in the Norselanguage, the master of the house understood nothing.
She listened to them with a haughty and unmoved air, and replied atlength aloud, and in English--"I will not. What if this house be strewedin ruins before morning--where would be the world's want in the crazedprojector, and the niggardly pinch-commons, by which it is inhabited?They will needs come to reform Zetland customs, let them try how theylike a Zetland storm.--You that would not perish, quit this house!"
The pedlar seized on his little knapsack, and began hastily to brace iton his back; the old maid-servant cast her cloak about her shoulders,and both seemed to be in the act of leaving the house as fast as theycould.
Triptolemus Yellowley, somewhat commoved by these appearances, askedMordaunt, with a voice which faltered with apprehension, whether hethought there was any, that is, so very much danger?
"I cannot tell," answered the youth, "I have scarce ever seen such astorm. Norna can tell us better than any one when it will abate; for noone in these islands can judge of the weather like her."
"And is that all thou thinkest Norna can do?" said the sibyl; "thoushalt know her powers are not bounded within such a narrow space. Hearme, Mordaunt, youth of a foreign land, but of a friendly heart--Dostthou quit this doomed mansion with those who now prepare to leave it?"
"I do not--I will not, Norna," replied Mordaunt; "I know not your motivefor desiring me to remove, and I will not leave, upon these darkthreats, the house in which I have been kindly received in such atempest as this. If the owners are unaccustomed to our practice ofunlimited hospitality, I am the more obliged to them that they haverelaxed their usages, and opened their doors in my behalf."
"He is a brave lad," said Mistress Baby, whose superstitious feelingshad been daunted by the threats of the supposed sorceress, and who,amidst her eager, narrow, and repining disposition, had, like all whopossess marked character, some sparks of higher feeling, which made hersympathize with generous sentiments, though she thought it too expensiveto entertain them at her own cost--"He is a brave lad," she againrepeated, "and worthy of ten geese, if I had them to boil for him, orroast either. I'll warrant him a gentleman's son, and no churl's blood."
"Hear me, young Mordaunt," said Norna, "and depart from this house. Fatehas high views on you--you shall not remain in this hovel to be crushedamid its worthless ruins, with the relics of its more worthlessinhabitants, whose life is as little to the world as the vegetation ofthe house-leek, which now grows on their thatch, and which shall soon becrushed amongst their mangled limbs."
"I--I--I will go forth," said Yellowley, who, despite of his bearinghimself scholarly and wisely, was beginning to be terrified for theissue of the adventure; for the house was old, and the walls rockedformidably to the blast.
"To what purpose?" said his sister. "I trust the Prince of the power ofthe air has not yet such-like power over those that are made in God'simage, that a good house should fall about our heads, because a randyquean" (here she darted a fierce glance at the Pythoness) "should boastus with her glamour, as if we were sae mony dogs to crouch at herbidding!"
"I was only wanting," said Triptolemus, ashamed of his motion, "to lookat the bear-braird, which must be sair laid wi' this tempest; but ifthis honest woman like to bide wi' us, I think it were best to let us a'sit doun canny thegither, till it's working weather again."
"Honest woman!" echoed Baby--"Foul warlock thief!--Aroint ye, yelimmer!" she added, addressing Norna directly; "out of an honest house,or, shame fa' me, but I'll take the bittle[26] to you!"
Norna cast on her a look of supreme contempt; then, stepping to thewindow, seemed engaged in deep contemplation of the heavens, while theold maid-servant, Tronda, drawing close to her mistress, implored, forthe sake of all that was dear to man or woman, "Do not provoke Norna ofFitful-head! You have no sic woman on the mainland of Scotland--she canride on one of these clouds as easily as man ever rode on a sheltie."
"I shall live to see her ride on the reek of a fat tar-barrel," saidMistress Baby; "and that will be a fit pacing palfrey for her."
Again Norna regarded the enraged Mrs. Baby Yellowley with a look of thatunutterable scorn which her haughty features could so well express, andmoving to the window which looked to the north-west, from which quarterthe gale seemed at present to blow, she stood for some time with herarms crossed, looking out upon the leaden-coloured sky, obscured as itwas by the thick drift, which, coming on in successive gusts of tempest,left ever and anon sad and dreary intervals of expectation betwixt thedying and the reviving blast.
Norna regarded this war of the elements as one to whom their strife wasfamiliar; yet the stern serenity of her features had in it a cast ofawe, and at the same time of authority, as the cabalist may be supposedto look upon the spirit he has evoked, and which, though he knows how tosubject him to his spell, bears still an aspect appalling to flesh andblood. The attendants stood by in different attitudes, expressive oftheir various feelings. Mordaunt, though not indifferent to the risk inwhich they stood, was more curious than alarmed. He had heard of Norna'salleged power over the elements, and now expected an opportunity ofjudging for himself of its reality. Triptolemus Yellowley was confoundedat what seemed to be far beyond the bounds of his philosophy; and, ifthe truth must be spoken, the worthy agriculturist was greatly morefrightened than inquisitive. His sister was not in the least curious onthe subject; but it was difficult to say whether anger or fearpredominated in her sharp eyes and thin compressed lips. The pedlar andold Tronda, confident that the house would never fall while theredoubted Norna was beneath its roof, held themselves ready for a startthe instant she should take her departure.
Having looked on the sky for some time in a fixed attitude, and with themost profound silence, Norna at once, yet with a slow and elevatedgesture, extended her staff of black oak towards that part of theheavens from which the blast came hardest, and in the midst of its furychanted a Norwegian invocation, still preserved in the Island of Uist,under the name of the Song of the Reimkennar, though some call it theSong of the Tempest. The following is a free translation, it beingimpossible to render literally many of the elliptical and metaphoricalterms of expression, peculiar to the ancient Northern poetry:--
1.
"Stern eagle of the far north-west, Thou that bearest in thy grasp the thunderbolt, Thou whose rushing pinions stir ocean to madness, Thou the destroyer of herds, thou the scatterer of navies, Thou the breaker down of towers, Amidst the scream of thy rage, Amidst the rushing of thy onward wings, Though thy scream be loud as the cry of a perishing nation, Though the rushing of thy win
gs be like the roar of ten thousand waves, Yet hear, in thine ire and thy haste, Hear thou the voice of the Reim-kennar.
2.
"Thou hast met the pine-trees of Drontheim, Their dark-green heads lie prostrate beside their uprooted stems; Thou hast met the rider of the ocean, The tall, the strong bark of the fearless rover, And she has struck to thee the topsail That she had not veiled to a royal armada; Thou hast met the tower that hears its crest among the clouds, The battled massive tower of the Jarl of former days, And the cope-stone of the turret Is lying upon its hospitable hearth; But thou too shalt stoop, proud compeller of clouds, When thou hearest the voice of the Reim-kennar.
3.
"There are verses that can stop the stag in the forest, Ay, and when the dark-coloured dog is opening on his track; There are verses can make the wild hawk pause on the wing, Like the falcon that wears the hood and the jesses, And who knows the shrill whistle of the fowler. Thou who canst mock at the scream of the drowning mariner, And the crash of the ravaged forest, And the groan of the overwhelmed crowds, When the church hath fallen in the moment of prayer, There are sounds which thou also must list, When they are chanted by the voice of the Reim-kennar.
4.
"Enough of woe hast thou wrought on the ocean, The widows wring their hands on the beach; Enough of woe hast thou wrought on the land, The husbandman folds his arms in despair; Cease thou the waving of thy pinions, Let the ocean repose in her dark strength; Cease thou the flashing of thine eye. Let the thunderbolt sleep in the armoury of Odin; Be thou still at my bidding, viewless racer of the north-western heaven, Sleep thou at the voice of Norna the Reim-kennar!"
We have said that Mordaunt was naturally fond of romantic poetry andromantic situation it is not therefore surprising that he listened withinterest to the wild address thus uttered to the wildest wind of thecompass, in a tone of such dauntless enthusiasm. But though he had heardso much of the Runic rhyme and of the northern spell, in the countrywhere he had so long dwelt, he was not on this occasion so credulous asto believe that the tempest, which had raged so lately, and which wasnow beginning to decline, was subdued before the charmed verse of Norna.Certain it was, that the blast seemed passing away, and the apprehendeddanger was already over; but it was not improbable that this issue hadbeen for some time foreseen by the Pythoness, through signs of theweather imperceptible to those who had not dwelt long in the country, orhad not bestowed on the meteorological phenomena the attention of astrict and close observer. Of Norna's experience he had no doubt, andthat went a far way to explain what seemed supernatural in herdemeanour. Yet still the noble countenance, half-shaded by dishevelledtresses, the air of majesty with which, in a tone of menace as well asof command, she addressed the viewless spirit of the tempest, gave him astrong inclination to believe in the ascendency of the occult arts overthe powers of nature; for, if a woman ever moved on earth to whom suchauthority over the ordinary laws of the universe could belong, Norna ofFitful-head, judging from bearing, figure, and face, was born to thathigh destiny.
The rest of the company were less slow in receiving conviction. ToTronda and the jagger none was necessary; they had long believed in thefull extent of Norna's authority over the elements. But Triptolemus andhis sister gazed at each other with wondering and alarmed looks,especially when the wind began perceptibly to decline, as was remarkablyvisible during the pauses which Norna made betwixt the strophes of herincantation. A long silence followed the last verse, until Nornaresumed her chant, but with a changed and more soothing modulation ofvoice and tune.
"Eagle of the far north-western waters, Thou hast heard the voice of the Reim-kennar, Thou hast closed thy wide sails at her bidding, And folded them in peace by thy side. My blessing be on thy retiring path! When thou stoopest from thy place on high, Soft be thy slumbers in the caverns of the unknown ocean, Rest till destiny shall again awaken thee; Eagle of the north-west, thou hast heard the voice of the Reim-kennar!"
"A pretty sang that would be to keep the corn from shaking in har'st,"whispered the agriculturist to his sister; "we must speak her fair,Baby--she will maybe part with the secret for a hundred pund Scots."
"An hundred fules' heads!" replied Baby--"bid her five merks of readysiller. I never knew a witch in my life but she was as poor as Job."
Norna turned towards them as if she had guessed their thoughts; it maybe that she did so. She passed them with a look of the most sovereigncontempt, and walking to the table on which the preparations for Mrs.Barbara's frugal meal were already disposed, she filled a small woodenquaigh from an earthen pitcher which contained bland, a subacid liquormade out of the serous part of the milk. She broke a single morsel froma barley-cake, and having eaten and drunk, returned towards the churlishhosts. "I give you no thanks," she said, "for my refreshment, for youbid me not welcome to it; and thanks bestowed on a churl are like thedew of heaven on the cliffs of Foulah, where it finds nought that canbe refreshed by its influences. I give you no thanks," she said again,but drawing from her pocket a leathern purse that seemed large andheavy, she added, "I pay you with what you will value more than thegratitude of the whole inhabitants of Hialtland. Say not that Norna ofFitful-head hath eaten of your bread and drunk of your cup, and left yousorrowing for the charge to which she hath put your house." So saying,she laid on the table a small piece of antique gold coin, bearing therude and half-defaced effigies of some ancient northern king.
Triptolemus and his sister exclaimed against this liberality withvehemence; the first protesting that he kept no public, and the otherexclaiming, "Is the carline mad? Heard ye ever of ony of the gentlehouse of Clinkscale that gave meat for siller?"
"Or for love either?" muttered her brother; "haud to that, tittie."
"What are ye whittie-whattieing about, ye gowk?" said his gentle sister,who suspected the tenor of his murmurs; "gie the ladie back herbonnie-die there, and be blithe to be sae rid on't--it will be asclate-stane the morn, if not something worse."
The honest factor lifted the money to return it, yet could not helpbeing struck when he saw the impression, and his hand trembled as hehanded it to his sister.
"Yes," said the Pythoness again, as if she read the thoughts of theastonished pair, "you have seen that coin before--beware how you use it!It thrives not with the sordid or the mean-souled--it was won withhonourable danger, and must be expended with honourable liberality. Thetreasure which lies under a cold hearth will one day, like the hiddentalent, bear witness against its avaricious possessors."
This last obscure intimation seemed to raise the alarm and the wonder ofMrs. Baby and her brother to the uttermost. The latter tried to stammerout something like an invitation to Norna to tarry with them all night,or at least to take share of the "dinner," so he at first called it; butlooking at the company, and remembering the limited contents of the pot,he corrected the phrase, and hoped she would take some part of the"snack, which would be on the table ere a man could loose a pleugh."
"I eat not here--I sleep not here," replied Norna--"nay, I relieve younot only of my own presence, but I will dismiss your unwelcomeguests.--Mordaunt," she added, addressing young Mertoun, "the dark fitis past, and your father looks for you this evening."
"Do you return in that direction?" said Mordaunt. "I will but eat amorsel, and give you my aid, good mother, on the road. The brooks mustbe out, and the journey perilous."
"Our roads lie different," answered the Sibyl, "and Norna needs notmortal arm to aid her on the way. I am summoned far to the east, bythose who know well how to smooth my passage.--For thee, BryceSnailsfoot," she continued, speaking to the pedlar, "speed thee on toSumburgh--the Roost will afford thee a gallant harvest, and worthy thegathering in. Much goodly ware will ere now be seeking a new owner, andthe careful skipper will sleep still enough in the deep haaf, and carenot that bale and chest are dashing against the shores."
"Na, na, good mother," answered Snailsfoot, "I desire no man's life formy private advantage, and am just
grateful for the blessing ofProvidence on my sma' trade. But doubtless one man's loss is another'sgain; and as these storms destroy a' thing on land, it is but fair theysuld send us something by sea. Sae, taking the freedom, like yoursell,mother, to borrow a lump of barley-bread, and a draught of bland, I willbid good-day, and thank you, to this good gentleman and lady, and e'engo on my way to Jarlshof, as you advise."
"Ay," replied the Pythoness, "where the slaughter is, the eagles will begathered; and where the wreck is on the shore, the jagger is as busy topurchase spoil as the shark to gorge upon the dead."
This rebuke, if it was intended for such, seemed above the comprehensionof the travelling merchant, who, bent upon gain, assumed the knapsackand ellwand, and asked Mordaunt, with the familiarity permitted in awild country, whether he would not take company along with him?
"I wait to eat some dinner with Mr. Yellowley and Mrs. Baby," answeredthe youth, "and will set forward in half an hour."
"Then I'll just take my piece in my hand," said the pedlar. Accordinglyhe muttered a benediction, and, without more ceremony, helped himself towhat, in Mrs. Baby's covetous eyes, appeared to be two-thirds of thebread, took a long pull at the jug of bland, seized on a handful of thesmall fish called sillocks, which the domestic was just placing on theboard, and left the room without farther ceremony.
"My certie," said the despoiled Mrs. Baby, "there is the chapman'sdrouth[27] and his hunger baith, as folk say! If the laws againstvagrants be executed this gate--It's no that I wad shut the door againstdecent folk," she said, looking to Mordaunt, "more especially in suchjudgment-weather. But I see the goose is dished, poor thing."
This she spoke in a tone of affection for the smoked goose, which,though it had long been an inanimate inhabitant of her chimney, was farmore interesting to Mrs. Baby in that state, than when it screamedamongst the clouds. Mordaunt laughed and took his seat, then turned tolook for Norna; but she had glided from the apartment during thediscussion with the pedlar.
"I am glad she is gane, the dour carline," said Mrs. Baby, "though shehas left that piece of gowd to be an everlasting shame to us."
"Whisht, mistress, for the love of heaven!" said Tronda Dronsdaughter;"wha kens where she may be this moment?--we are no sure but she may hearus, though we cannot see her."
Mistress Baby cast a startled eye around, and instantly recoveringherself, for she was naturally courageous as well as violent, said, "Ibade her aroint before, and I bid her aroint again, whether she sees meor hears me, or whether she's ower the cairn and awa.--And you, ye sillysumph," she said to poor Yellowley, "what do ye stand glowering therefor?--_You_ a Saunt Andrew's student!--_you_ studied lair and Latinhumanities, as ye ca' them, and daunted wi' the clavers of an auldrandie wife! Say your best college grace, man, and witch, or nae witch,we'll eat our dinner, and defy her. And for the value of the gowdenpiece, it shall never be said I pouched her siller. I will gie it tosome poor body--that is, I will test[28] upon it at my death, and keepit for a purse-penny till that day comes, and that's no using it in theway of spending siller. Say your best college grace, man, and let us eatand drink in the meantime."
"Ye had muckle better say an _oraamus_ to Saint Ronald, and fling asaxpence ower your left shouther, master," said Tronda.[29]
"That ye may pick it up, ye jaud," said the implacable Mistress Baby;"it will be lang or ye win the worth of it ony other gate.--Sit down,Triptolemus, and mindna the words of a daft wife."
"Daft or wise," replied Yellowley, very much disconcerted, "she kensmore than I would wish she kend. It was awfu' to see sic a wind fa' atthe voice of flesh and blood like oursells--and then yon about thehearth-stane--I cannot but think"----
"If ye cannot but think," said Mrs. Baby, very sharply, "at least ye canhaud your tongue?"
The agriculturist made no reply, but sate down to their scanty meal, anddid the honours of it with unusual heartiness to his new guest, thefirst of the intruders who had arrived, and the last who left them. Thesillocks speedily disappeared, and the smoked goose, with itsappendages, took wing so effectually, that Tronda, to whom the polishingof the bones had been destined, found the task accomplished, or nearlyso, to her hand. After dinner, the host produced his bottle of brandy;but Mordaunt, whose general habits were as abstinent almost as those ofhis father, laid a very light tax upon this unusual exertion ofhospitality.
During the meal, they learned so much of young Mordaunt, and of hisfather, that even Baby resisted his wish to reassume his wet garments,and pressed him (at the risk of an expensive supper being added to thecharges of the day) to tarry with them till the next morning. But whatNorna had said excited the youth's wish to reach home, nor, however farthe hospitality of Stourburgh was extended in his behalf, did the housepresent any particular temptations to induce him to remain there longer.He therefore accepted the loan of the factor's clothes, promising toreturn them, and send for his own; and took a civil leave of his hostand Mistress Baby, the latter of whom, however affected by the loss ofher goose, could not but think the cost well bestowed (since it was tobe expended at all) upon so handsome and cheerful a youth.
FOOTNOTES:
[26] The beetle with which the Scottish housewives used to perform theoffice of the modern mangle, by beating newly-washed linen on a smoothstone for the purpose, called the beetling-stone.
[27] The chapman's drouth, that is, the pedlar's thirst, is proverbialin Scotland, because these pedestrian traders were in the use ofmodestly asking only for a drink of water, when, in fact, they weredesirous of food.
[28] Test upon it, _i. e._, leave it in my will; a mode of bestowingcharity, to which many are partial as well as the good dame in the text.
[29] Although the Zetlanders were early reconciled to the reformedfaith, some ancient practices of Catholic superstition survived longamong them. In very stormy weather a fisher would vow an _oramus_ toSaint Ronald, and acquitted himself of the obligation by throwing asmall piece of money in at the window of a ruinous chapel.
