Chapter 34 Chapter Thirty-Two

The morning light was just beginning to light up the woods, the bushes, and the large boulders scattered across the field, when the hired guide who was walking beside Jurand's horse stopped and said: "Give me a break, knight, I'm out of breath. It's thawing now, and it's foggy again, but it's not far." "You can go back as soon as you lead me to the road," answered Jurand. "The road is on the right behind the woods, and you can see the castle as soon as you go up the hill." Then the farmer began to clap his hands against the pits of his diaphragm, for the cold morning fog had froze him; this movement made him still more suffocating, and he sat down on a stone.

"Do you know if the count is at the castle?" asked Jurand. "He's sick, where else can he go!" "What's wrong with him?" "I heard he got a good beating from a Polish knight," replied the old farmer.There was clearly a smug tone in his words.He was a subject of the Knights of the Crusader Order, but his Majurian heart rejoiced at the majesty of the Polish knights. After a while, he said again: "Hey! Our lords are all strong and strong, but they are not the opponents of the Polish knights." But after saying this, he immediately glanced warily at the knight twice, as if he wanted to know whether what he just blurted out by accident would bring disaster to him, so he said:

"Your lord, it is our language; you are not a German?" "No," replied Jurand, "lead the way." The farmer got up and walked beside the horse again.Often along the way he reached into a little leather pouch, took out a handful of unground grains, put them in his mouth, and, after satisfying his first hunger in this way, talked about why he ate raw grains. The reason was that Jurand was so absorbed in thinking about his disaster that he had mixed feelings and didn't pay attention at all. "God bless," he said. "How hard it is under our lords of Germany! They impose all kinds of taxes on corn flour, so that poor people can only eat the hulled grain like cattle. If they find a hand mill somewhere , they put the farmer to death and took everything from his house, bah! They didn't spare even the women and the children.... They feared neither God nor the priest. This deed, and they put them in chains. Oh, it's a hard time under the Germans! If a man really grinds some grain, he'll have to save the handful of flour until the holy Sabbath. , and on Friday you must peck like a bird. But even then, God will help you, because you won't get even this grain two or three months before the harvest. No fishing is allowed... Hunting is not allowed either. . . . It is quite different from the situation in Masovia."

The peasant under the rule of the Crusader Knights complained all the way, as if talking to himself, or to Jurand.By this time they had passed a desolate field strewn with round, snow-covered limestones.Later, I walked into a forest that was gray and brown in the morning light.There was a biting, damp chill in the forest.It was broad daylight; otherwise Jurand would have found it difficult to pass the forest path.This road leads to the hillside and is very narrow. In some places, it is difficult for the tall war horse to walk through the big trees on both sides.Fortunately, I walked out of the forest soon, and after only a few verses of the "Lord's Prayer", I arrived at the top of a snow-capped hill, and there was a mountain road that people used to walk in the middle of the hill.

"This is the way, my lord," said the peasant, "and you will find it yourself now." "All right," replied Jurand. "You go home, man." Reaching into the leather bag tied to the front of the saddle, he took out a silver coin and handed it to the guide.The peasant, who had been tortured by the local crusaders and never received any reward, could not believe his eyes, and as soon as he got the money, he put his head on Jurand's stirrups, and clasped his hands around the saddle. "O Jesus, Virgin Mary!" he cried, "may God repay your master!"

"God bless you!" "God bless you! Schittenau is ahead." He threw himself in the stirrups again, and went away.Jurand remained alone on the hill, looking in the direction pointed by the peasant, looking at the gray, damp curtain of fog that hid the way ahead.Behind the curtain of fog was the ominous castle to which he was being driven by a helpless force and disaster.Seeing that it was almost here, what was going to happen was going to happen. ...Thinking of this, Jurand not only felt extremely worried about Danusia, but also made up his mind to save her from the enemy even if he shed all his own blood. He also felt a novel, Extremely painful, unprecedented humiliation.Now, Jurand, who used to make the gentlemen of the nearby crusaders tremble at the mere mention of his name, was obediently going to obey their orders.He had beaten and trampled on so many of them, and now he felt that he was going to be beaten and trampled on.It was true that they had not overwhelmed him with courage and knightly prowess in battle, but he had always felt himself overpowered.To him it was an extraordinary event, as if the order of the whole world had been turned upside down.He was going to surrender to the Teutonics. If it wasn't for Danusia, he would have fought the entire Teutonic army to the death even if he was alone.Hasn't it happened in the past--a single knight, in order to choose between humiliation and death, went against a whole army?But he felt that he was going to be humiliated. When he thought of this, he groaned in pain, like a wolf howling after being shot by an arrow.

But not only is his body made of iron, but his will is also made of iron.He knew how to get others to surrender, and he knew how to surrender himself. "Let me not move forward," he said in his heart, "you must first suppress this anger, otherwise not only will you not be able to save my daughter, but you will ruin her." Thus he struggled with his stubborn will, with his implacable hatred, with his will to fight.Anyone who has seen him standing on that mountain in his armor and riding a tall horse will say that he is a giant of iron, and will never think that this knight is standing there motionless now, going through the life of his life. The fiercest battle.He fought himself until he had mastered himself so much that he felt he could control his will.The mist, though not quite gone, was thinning, and at last something darker seemed to emerge from the mist.

Jurand guessed that the man must have been the battlements of Schttno Castle.Seeing the walls, he remained where he was, but began to pray with the utmost sincerity and fervor, as a man who feels that there is nothing in the world but the mercy of God.Then, when at last he rode on, he felt a confidence beginning in him.Now he is ready to bear all the pain that can be suffered.Then he thought of St. George, the son of the greatest nation in Cappadocia, who suffered every kind of humiliation, and not only did not lose one iota of honor, but was placed on the right hand seat of God, and was regarded as Enshrined as the patron saint of the knight world.Jurand had several times heard the abbots from far away talk about St. George's martial arts, so now he used these memories to strengthen his courage.

① Cappadocia is the name of a place on the peninsula of Asia Minor. Hope began to grow in him, though slowly.The Teutons were indeed famous for their love of vengeance, and he had no doubt that they would avenge him for their repeated defeats, for the dishonor they had suffered after every battle, and for their Take revenge on him for the life of fear he has lived through for so many years. But thinking of this, his courage increased instead.They had gone to Danusia, he thought, only to catch himself; and what use would Danusia be to them when they caught him?yes!They insisted on arresting him, and they dared not take him near Masovia, but sent him to a remote castle, where he might be tortured to death in a dungeon, but they Danusia will be freed.Even if it turned out later that they had caught him by cunning and pressure, neither the grand master nor the abbe would reprimand them severely for this, because in fact Jurand was so cruel to the Teutons that he The Teutons shed more blood than any knight in the world.But the grand master would probably punish them for imprisoning the innocent girl, who was the adopted daughter of the duke, whom the grand master was courting in preparation for a dangerous war with the King of Poland.

His hopes grew, and at times he was almost certain that Danusia would return to Spychow, under Zbyszko's vigorous protection. ... "He is a strong man," he thought: "he will never let anyone hurt her." And he recalled with affection what he had heard about Zbyszko: "He Nor defeated the Germans, fought them to a duel, challenged and killed two Frisians with his uncle, attacked Lichtenstein, and rescued His daughter, he also challenged the four knights of the crusader, whom he will never forgive." Thinking of this, Jurand raised his eyes to the sky and said: "O God, I promise her To you, and you gave her to Zbyszko!"

His confidence was all the greater, for he thought that if God had given her to the young man, he would not let the Germans mock her, but would take her back from them, even if the whole army of the Teutons Can't resist.Then he thought of Zbyszko again: "Hey! He is not only a strong man, but he is pure as gold. He will defend her and love her, Jesus! Bless her; but I think she Once you are with him, you will not miss the Duke's court, nor will you miss the love of your parents..." Thinking of this, his eyes suddenly became moist, and his heart was filled with extreme longing.He really wanted to see his child again at least once in his life, and he would die in Spychov, with those two relatives, instead of dying in a Teutonic prison. "But God's will is irresistible!" Schitno was already in sight.The walls became more distinct in the mist, and the time of sacrifice drew near; he began to comfort himself, saying: "Of course, it is God's will! The end of life is approaching. Live a few years more or less, and the end will always come." It's the same. Hey! I'd love to see those two boys again, but I've had enough, to be fair. I've been through everything I should have been through; We have all been avenged. What now? It is better to stay in the world than to see God; if you have to suffer, then suffer. Danusia and Zbyszko, even in their happiest moments, will not forget me Yes. They will always worry about me, and ask: Where is he? Is he still alive, or is he in the court of God? They will find out where I am, and maybe find out. Teutons are vengeful Yes, but also very greedy for the ransom money. At least Zbyszko will not be reluctant to pay for the bones. God and the Most High Mary bless them for this!" Now not only the road is wider, but also more pedestrians.Load wood.The straw carriage headed for the town.The shepherds are driving their animals back.Frozen fish caught from the lake are loaded on sleds.In one place four archers took a criminal peasant in chains to court, his hands bound behind his back, and his feet in fetters, and the snow was so deep that he could hardly move.The breath from the peasant's panting nostrils and mouth formed circles of steam, while his captors sang and forced him on his way.As soon as they saw Jurand, they looked at him curiously, evidently surprised at the size and strength of the rider and horse; but as soon as they saw his golden spurs and cavalier's girdle, they lowered their crossbows and He welcomes and respects.The town grew more crowded and noisier, and everyone hastened to give way to the armed man who crossed the street and turned the corner towards the castle.The castle was wrapped in morning mist, as if still asleep. But not everything around the castle was asleep, at least not the crows and the dodos, who were flying and singing in great numbers on the high ground at the entrance to the castle.Going forward and taking a look, Jurand finally understood the reason why they gathered here.It turned out that beside the road leading to the gate of the castle, there was a large gallows, on which were hung the corpses of four Majur peasants.There was not a breath of wind, and the four corpses seemed to stand there, swaying and never shaking, only when the large flock of black birds perched on their shoulders and heads, pushed each other, flapped the ropes and pecked at the four dead bodies. When the head was lowered, the four corpses shook.Some of them must have been hanging there for a long time, for the heads of the corpses were completely bald and the legs had become elongated.As soon as Jurand came up to them, the crows flew up with a coax, but after circling in the air for a while, they immediately perched on the cross-bars of the gallows one after another.Jurand crossed himself as he passed these corpses; and as he approached the moat, and stopped at the place where the drawbridge drew before the gate, he blew the horn. He blew a second time, a third time, and waited.There was no one on the city wall, and no sound could be heard from inside the city gate.A moment later, behind a stone pane by the city gate, a large portcullis rose with a clatter, and through the opening appeared the bearded head of a German servant. "Wer da?" asked a harsh voice. ① Germanic: "Who is there?" "Jurand of Spychof!" replied the knight. Immediately the flap door was lowered again, and silence ensued. Time passed.There was no movement behind the door, except for the crowing of crows on the gallows side. Jurand stood for a long time longer.Then he raised the horn and blew it again.But the only response was still silence. Now he understood that the Teutons deliberately made him stand outside the door out of pride.There is no limit to their pride of the vanquished, in order to humiliate him as a beggar.He also guessed that he might have to wait like this until the evening, or even longer.Therefore, at the beginning, his blood was boiling; suddenly he wanted to jump off the horse, lift a big stone by the side of the moat, and throw it towards the window opening.On other occasions, not only him, but any Majur or Polish knight would have done the same, at worst, let them go out of the city to fight him.But when he thought about why he came here, he thought about it carefully and suppressed his anger. "Didn't I sacrifice myself for my own daughter?" he said to himself. So he continued to wait. At this time, something dark and dark appeared in the wind-watching cave on the city wall.It turned out to be a few human heads, covered with fur, wrapped in a black turban, and even wearing an iron helmet. Pairs of curious eyes watched the knight from under these iron helmets.There are more and more people.For the dreadful Jurand, waiting alone before the Teuton gates, was a spectacle to their garrison.Before that, anyone who saw him saw death, but now people can look at him in peace.The head count continued to increase until at last all the lookout holes by the city gates were filled with servants.Jurand thought that their superiors must also be watching him from the window openings of the nearby towers, and he turned his eyes in that direction, but the windows there were so deeply set in the thick walls that it was impossible to see from them. go inside.But the group of people who had been silently watching him in the Watching Cave had started talking now.His name was mentioned one after another, and laughter could be heard everywhere.The harsh voice grew louder and more arrogant, like shouting at a wolf.Apparently no one interfered with them, they even threw snowballs at the knight standing by the city gate.He seemed to move his horse involuntarily; after a while the throwing of the snowballs ceased, the shouting died down, and even a few heads disappeared behind the ramparts.Of course, Jurand's name must be very scary!But before long, even the most cowardly would think that there was still a moat and a wall between them and that dreadful Majur, and so these rough soldiers again began to throw not only little snowballs, but Ice cubes were picked up, and even broken porcelain and stones were thrown. These things fell on the armor and horse clothes, and fell to the ground with a clacking sound. "I sacrifice myself for my own child," Jurand repeated in his mind. He continued to wait.At noon, there was no one on the top of the city, and the followers all went to have lunch.The few who had to stand guard there ate on the city wall, and after eating, threw meat and bones at the hungry knight as a pastime.They joked among themselves too, about whoever dared go down and hit him in the neck with his fist or the butt of a spear.Those who came back from the meal shouted to him that if he didn't like to wait, he could go and hang himself. There was still a hook free on the gallows, and the rope was ready.The afternoon passed amidst such sarcasm, shouting, teasing, and cursing.The short day of winter is gradually approaching dusk, but the drawbridge is still high and the city gates are still closed. At dusk, a gust of wind blew away the mist, and the sky cleared to reflect the afterglow of the setting sun. The snow turned dark blue, then violet.There was no ice, and it seemed that the night was beautiful.There was no one on the walls but the watchmen; and the rooks and crows left the gallows and flew into the forest.At last it was dark, and then all was still. "They won't open until evening," thought Jurand. For a moment he really wanted to go back to the city, but immediately lost the idea. "They're going to make me stand here and wait," he said to himself. "If I want to go back, they will definitely not let me go home, but will surround me and capture me. At that time, they will say that they did not blame me, because they captured me by force, and Even if I break out, I still want to come back..." Foreign chroniclers have always praised the Polish knights for their endurance of hunger and cold.The great perseverance that despises hardships, and thinks that it is often this perseverance that enables them to accomplish what Westerners who are not good at hard work cannot accomplish.Jurand has greater perseverance than others; therefore, although hunger has been tormenting him for a long time, and the night cold has penetrated the leather clothes under his armor, he still decides to wait, even if he dies at the gate of the city. . But before it was dark, he suddenly heard footsteps in the snow behind him. He looked back: there were six men with spears and halberds coming towards him from the city; among them was a man with a sword. "Perhaps the guards will open the door for these people, and I will go in with them," thought Jurand. "They will probably not take me by force, nor kill me, for they are too few to do it; and if they attack me, it will prove that they do not mean to keep their word, and-- It's their fault." Thinking of this, he picked up the steel ax hanging on the saddle (this steel ax is so heavy that ordinary soldiers can't lift it with both hands), and walked towards them. But it never occurred to them to attack him.On the contrary, the servants planted their spears and halberds in the snow, and as it was not yet dark Jurand saw that the handles of the weapons in their hands were shaking. The man holding the sword seemed to be their superior. He quickly stretched out his left arm, swung it upwards, and said: "Are you the Jurand knight of Spychoff?" "Exactly." "Would you like to hear the message I brought?" "I'm listening." "The powerful and pious Count von Dunwiert ordered me to tell you, my lord, that the gates will never be opened for you unless you dismount." Jurand remained motionless, and after a while he dismounted, which was immediately led away by an archer. "The weapons must be given to us," said the man with the sword again. Lord Spychof hesitated.Perhaps they would attack him while he was disarmed, and kill him like a wild animal, or take him captive and throw him into the dungeon?But after a while, he thought, if that was their intention, they would send more of them.Besides, if they wanted to attack him, they would not destroy his armor at once, but he could grab a weapon from the nearest man and kill them all before reinforcements arrived.They know how powerful he is. "Even if they really want to kill me," he thought, "that's exactly what I'm here for anyway." Thinking this way, he dropped the axe, then the sword, and finally the Mikricordiah, and waited there.When the archers had removed all their weapons, the man who had spoken to him stepped back a few steps, stopped, and shouted haughtily: "For all the wrongs you have done to the Knights in the past, you must wear this sackcloth that I have placed here, and tie your scabbard around your neck with a rope, by order of 'comto' , wait in front of the city gate respectfully, until His Excellency 'Komto' gives you his thoughts and orders to open the gate." So Jurand remained alone in darkness and silence.The sackcloth and the rope expressing repentance were placed blackly in the snow in front of him, but he stood there all the time, feeling that something in his soul was disintegrating, cracking, struggling, dying, feeling that in an instant he would not A knight again, no longer Jurand of Spyhof, but a beggar, a slave without name, without reputation, without prestige. So it was a long time before he came up to the penitent sackcloth and said: "How could I not do it? You know, Christ, that if I disobeyed their orders, they would kill my innocent child. And you know that I would never do it for my own life. Yes! Disgrace is painful! Difficult!—but you have been disgraced before. Then in the name of the Father and the Son..." So he stooped down, put on the sackcloth (it was a piece of sackcloth with three holes for the collar and cuffs), tied the scabbard around his neck, and walked towards the city gate with heavy steps. go. The city gate has not been opened yet; but now that the city gate opens sooner or later, it doesn't matter to him.The castle was immersed in the silence of the night, only the guards on the bastion calling to each other from time to time.In the tower by the gate there was light in the tallest window; the rest were dark. The hours of night passed by one by one, and a crescent moon appeared in the sky, and its light fell on the somber walls of the castle.There was such silence that Jurand could hear his own heartbeat.But his whole body was stiff, almost completely turned into a fossil, as if his soul had already left his body, and he didn't care about anything anymore.He had only one thought: he was no longer a knight, Jurand of Spychof, and he did not know who he was. ... Sometimes it seemed to him that in the middle of the night, death would rush to him across the snow from the few hanged bodies he had seen in the morning. ... He shivered suddenly and was fully awake. "O good Christ! What is that?" From the high windows of the nearby towers came the faint sound of a lute.All the way Jurand came to Scittno, he was convinced that Danusia was not in the castle, but the lute in the middle of the night suddenly shocked him.He thought he knew the voice, get rid of her—his daughter, his relatives, who else was playing! ... Then he fell on his knees, crossed his hands, and prayed, trembling like a fever, and listened. At this moment, a childish and melancholy voice sang: if I have The tiny wings of the gosling; I will fly to Yasik of Silesia. Jurand wanted to answer, to call out the dear name, but his words were stuck in his throat, as if bound by an iron band.Pain, bitterness, longing, misery suddenly stirred up in his breast; and throwing his face into the snow, he entreated Heaven in his heart, ecstatically, as if in a prayer of thanksgiving: "Oh Jesus! I hear my child's voice again! Oh Jesus!  …" He wept so much that his massive body shook.On the tower, the infinitely sad voice continued to linger in the quiet night sky: i'm going to sit Singing over the fence: "Look, my dear, Here comes Liuba, poor orphan! " The next morning a stout, bearded German squire came out and kicked the knight lying in front of the city gate in the ribs. "Stand up, dog! . . . The gates are open, and 'Komto' orders you to meet him." Jurand seemed to wake from a deep sleep.He did not take the man by the throat, did not strangle him with his iron hands, his face was calm and humble; he rose, and without a word, followed the soldier into the gate. As soon as he walked in, he heard a clatter of chains behind him, the drawbridge was hoisted again, and a heavy iron gate fell down at the entrance.