Chapter 57 Chapter Twenty-Three

Whether it's intimate love words or thoughtful persuasion, it doesn't matter.Danusia knew no one, and was not sane.The only feeling that permeated her whole being was fear, a captive bird's fear.Send her food, but she refuses to eat in front of others.But from her refusal eyes, everyone could see that she had had enough of the torment of hunger.As long as no one is around, she pounces on meat like a ravenous little beast.But as soon as Zbyszko entered the hut, she fled into a corner and hid behind a bouquet of dried kubu flowers.Zbyszko stretched out his arms in vain, stretched out his hands in vain, and begged her tearfully, to no avail.Even when the light was adjusted so that she could recognize Zbyszko's face, she refused to come out of her hiding place.It was as if she had not only lost consciousness, but also her memory.Zbyszko gazed at her withered, pale face, with its expression of terror, her sunken eyes, and her tattered dress, and thought of whose hands she had fallen into, and what suffering she had suffered, It was so painful that I wanted to cry.In the end he was so angry that he took the sword and rushed at Siegfried, and would have killed him on the spot if Matzko had not taken him by the arm.

① A plant used to make beer, also known as hops. So the uncle and nephew wrestled with each other like enemies.But the young man was too tired from the battle with the giant Arnold, and was finally subdued by old Macko.Macko twisted his wrist and cried: "Are you crazy?" "Let go!" he pleaded through gritted teeth, "my heart is about to explode." "Let it explode! I won't let you go. Better to smash your head to pieces than insult yourself and our family." Macko grasped Zbyszko's hand as if he were clamping it with a pair of iron vices, and said sternly:

"Remember, you are not without chance of vengeance; how can you kill a chained captive when you are a cavalier in a girdle? You do Danusia no good by doing so. What is the result? Only disgrace. You say Well, many kings and dukes have killed captives. Why! That's none of our business; what they can do, you can't. They have kingdoms, cities, castles. What have you? Knightly honor. For None of them would reproach you, and you would spit in your face. For God's sake, think about it!" There was a moment of silence. "Let go!" repeated Zbyszko gloomily. "I won't kill him."

"Go over to the fire, we've got to talk it over." Macko took him by the hand and went to the fire, which the servants had kindled by the pitch stove.There they sat down, Macko thought for a moment, and said: "You must remember, too, that you promised to deliver the old dog to Jurand. Only he can avenge himself and his daughter. He will of course avenge him, and you need not worry! In this matter, You must do what pleases Jurand. This is his business, not yours. Jurand can do it, but you may not be able to do it; man is not his captive, but he can take him from you as one. Receive it like a gift; he'll even skin him alive; and no one can scold him for doing it. Do you understand me?"

"I see," replied Zbyszko. "You are right." "You have evidently regained your sanity. If you are again tempted by the devil, remember that you also challenged Lichtenstein and other crusader knights; if you should kill an unarmed captive, Your deeds will be made known to the world, and then no knight will accept your challenge, and they will think that the other is just. Don't let this happen! We are unfortunate enough, don't Add shame to us. Let's talk about what we should do now, how we should act." "Speak," said the young knight. "My opinion is this: the viper that guards Danusia should be killed; but it is not proper for a knight to kill a woman. So let's send her to Duke Janusi. She died at the Duke and Intrigues have been wrought in the duchess's forest palace. Let the court of Masovia judge her. If they don't crush her under the wheel and punish her sins, they violate the justice of God. As long as we don't Find another woman to serve Danusia, and as long as she is needed to serve Danusia, we must keep her until we find another old woman; .Now we must hurry to the Masovia Forest as soon as possible."

"It can't be done at once, it's already dark. Let's wait until tomorrow, and, if God allows, Danusia's senses may be cleared then." "It's good to let the horses have a good rest, then let's start at dawn." Their conversation was interrupted by Arnold von Peyton, who was lying on his back not far away, bound to his own sword; he shouted in German.Old Macko got up and went towards him, but because he could not understand what he was shouting, he called out for the Czechs. Halava could not come at once, because he was busy with other things.While Macko and Zbyszko were talking by the fire, he went straight up to the maid of the Order, took her by the neck with both hands, and shook her as violently as a pear tree, saying: :

"Listen, you bitch! Go into the hut and prepare the fur bed for the young lady. Before making the bed, put your good clothes on her, and put the rags you gave her on yourself. on a dead body... may your mother be beaten to hell!" He was so angry that he couldn't control himself and shook her until her eyes bulged out.He would have strangled her, but changed his mind, knowing she was of some use; at last he let her go, saying: "When you've made your bed, we're going to hang you from a tree branch." The maid hugged his knees in horror, but the Czech kicked her away.She rushed into the hut, threw herself at Danusia's feet, and cried aloud:

"Talk to me. Don't let them bully me!" Danusia just closed her eyes and whispered in her usual whisper: "I'm afraid! I'm afraid! I'm afraid!" Then she was silent again, as she always did whenever this maid approached her.She asked the woman to undress her, wash her body, and put on new clothes.The woman made the bed and let Danusia lie down—Danusia looked like a figure of wood or wax; after this the woman sat by the fire, not daring to go out. After a while the Czech came in and said to Danusia first: "You are now with your own, madam, so sleep peacefully in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit!"

He crossed Danusia.In order not to frighten her, he lowered his voice to the maid and said: "I'll tie you up, and you'll sleep on the threshold; and if you startle my lady by making any noise, I'll snap your neck. Get up, and go!" He led her out of the hut, bound her tightly, and went to Zbyszko. "I have ordered the poisonous snake to wear her own clothes for the lady, and prepared a soft bed for her. The lady is asleep now; you had better not go in, so as not to frighten her. God bless her and keep her safe Get a good night's rest and maybe you'll be sane tomorrow. Now you should eat something and get some rest."

"I slept by her threshold," said Zbyszko. "Then I'll drag the bitch away from the threshold, and let her lie with the curly-haired corpse. But you must eat now, for there is a long way to go, and hard work to come." He fetched some bacon and dried turnips, which he had brought from the Lithuanian barracks; and as soon as the food had been placed before Zbyszko Macko came to tell him to go to Arnold. "Listen carefully. What does this guy want? Although I know a few Germanic words, I can't understand what he said." "I'll carry him to the fire, my lord, and talk to him there," answered the Czech.

As he said this, he untied his belt, passed it under Arnold's armpit, and picked him up; the heavy weight of this giant made him bend over, but Halava was strong enough to carry him. He carried his back near the fire, and threw it beside Zbyszko like a sack of peas. "Take off my chains," said the crusader knight. "That is all right, if you will swear by your knightly honor that you are our prisoner. I will have the sword taken from your knees, and your hands unbound, so that you can sit with us, but The rope on the feet has to be tied, and we can talk about it after we have settled the matter." Macko nodded to the Czech, and the Czech untied the rope from Arnold's hand and helped him sit down.Arnold looked proudly at Macko and Zbyszko and asked: "Who are you?" "How dare you ask us this? It's none of your business. Get your name out there." "Don't do my business? Because only to the knight, I can swear on the honor of the knight." "Then look!" Macko unbuttoned his coat and showed him the knight at the waist. The crusader knight was taken aback when he saw it, and after a while, he said; "What's the matter? You sneaked into this wild place to plunder and help the heathen against the Catholics?" "Nonsense!" cried Macko. The conversation went on like a quarrel, in an unfriendly, arrogant way.But when Macko yelled fiercely that it was the Knights who prevented Lithuania from converting to Catholicism, and presented all the evidence, Arnold was taken aback again and became speechless, because the facts were so obvious that it was impossible to turn a blind eye , there is no way to refute.What particularly astonished the German was Macko's words, while crossing himself: "Who knows whom you are really serving, if not all of you, at least some of you." This remark particularly astonished him, since in this order there were indeed some "Commuters" who were suspected of surrendering to Satan.At present, no measures have been publicly taken against these people, fearing that this will cause everyone to blame the entire knight order.But Arnold is very clear, because such things have been whispered among the mages of the Knights for a long time, and he has heard such things himself.And so Macko uttered what he had heard from Sandrus, exposing Siegfried's inconceivable conduct, and the outspoken giant was greatly disturbed. "For example, this Siegfried with whom you came to war," he said, "does he serve Christ? Haven't you ever heard how he was in league with the devil, how he was with the devil?" Grind your ears, smile, gnash your teeth?" "Yes!" Arnold murmured. At this moment Zbyszko's heart was filled with sorrow and anger again, and he suddenly exclaimed: "But what do you talk about about the honor of knighthood? How shameful, to help a hangman, a devil! What a shame, to see a defenseless woman suffer, and not say a word, and she is the daughter of a knight. You Maybe I tortured her myself too. How embarrassing!" Arnold closed his eyes, drew the cross on his body, and said: "In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit . "Oh, terrible! terrible!" Zbyszko interrupted him, groaning. He held the handle of his "Mitrikaudia" again, and looked ferociously into the dark corner where Siegfried was lying on his back. Matsko quietly put his hand on Zbyszko's arm, squeezed it hard to bring him back to his senses, then turned to Arnold and said: "That woman is the daughter of Jurand of Spyhof, the wife of the young knight. Do you understand now why we pursued you, why did we take you prisoner?" "My God!" said Arnold. "Where do you come from? What's the matter? She's crazy..." "The knights of the crusaders kidnapped this innocent lamb, and tortured her to such an extent." As soon as Zbyszko heard the words "innocent lamb," he put his fist to his mouth, bit his thumb, and couldn't stop the tears from falling down. Arnold sat there engrossed; the Czech told him briefly about Dunwiert's plot, Danusia's kidnapping, Jurand's torture, the duel with Rotgier, and so on.When he finished speaking, everyone was silent.The only sound was the rustling of the trees in the forest and the crackling of logs in the fire. After sitting like this for a while, Arnold finally raised his head and said: "I swear to you, not only by my knight's honor, but by the crucifix, I have never seen that woman, I don't know who she is, I never had a hand in her torture, I never touched it she." "Then you swear again that you will go with us willingly and that you will not run away, and I will order you to be untied completely," Macko said. "At your word. I swear! But where are you taking me?" "To Masovia, to Jurand of Spykhov." After Maczko finished speaking, he cut the rope off Arnold's feet himself, and then told him to eat meat and turnips.After a while Zbyszko went out and sat down on the threshold of the hut to rest, where he did not see the order girl again, because the grooms had taken her away with the horses.Zbyszko lay down on the fur that Hlaval had brought.He decided to lie there with his eyes open until dawn, hoping that Danusia would be better by then! The Czech returned to the fire, wanting to talk to Bogdaniec's old knight about something, to remove a big stone in his heart.But seeing that the old knight was also meditating on some troublesome problems, he didn't notice Arnold's snoring at all. It turned out that Arnold felt very tired after eating a lot of baked turnips and bacon, like a Sleep soundly like a stone. "My lord, why don't you take a rest?" asked the Czech. "Sleep has escaped from my eyelids," Macko answered. "May God allow good weather tomorrow morning." Then he looked at the stars and said: "The constellation Auriga is already visible in the sky, and I've been thinking about how to arrange all this. I don't want to sleep either, because I'm thinking about that lady of Zgotrilici." ① The Auriga constellation is the Great Bear, also known as the Big Dipper. "Ah! That's true. Another trouble. She's in Spyhof." "We don't know why she was taken from Zgortrichriti to Spyhof." "It was at her own request," Macko replied impatiently, for he knew in his heart that he had done something wrong, and he didn't want to talk about it. "Yes! But now what?" "What should I do? Well, I will send her home and let God arrange it!" After a while he said again: "Yes! It is God's will, but at least Danuska must be restored to health, and then I will know what to do. Like now, God knows! If she neither recovers nor dies, then what should I do? ? Who knows." The Czechs were thinking about Jagienka all the time. "You must know, Monseigneur, that when I left Spychof to say good-bye to her, she said to me: 'If anything happens, let me know before Zbyszko and Macko. Because They have to send a message, so let them send you, and you can send me to Zgotrilitre.'” "Hi!" Macko replied. "Of course, if Danuska gets to Spykhov, it's not right for her to stay there. Now, of course, she should be sent back to Zgortrichri. I pity the little orphan, and I'm really sorry. But God Her will must be fulfilled. How should I arrange this now? Let me think about it. You said she commanded you to send the news before us, to send her to Zgotrilici? " "Yes. I have told you exactly what she said." "Then you set out before us. And old Jurand must be informed that his daughter has been found, but he must be careful in telling him, lest it should be announced to him suddenly, and he will be happy to see her off." As much as I love God, I think it's the right thing to do, the most practical thing to do. Go back! Tell them we've rescued Danusia and we're going to send her back right away. Then you send That other poor girl to Zgotrilitri!" The old knight sighed, for he was really sorry for Jagienka, and also for some of the plans he had in mind. After a while, he asked again: "I know you're a brave and strong lad, but you must take care that she doesn't get hurt or have any accidents. It happens a lot on the road." "I must do my best, even if I lose my head! I plan to take a few capable servants with me. The Lord of Spycherov will never spare these people, even if I escort her to the ends of the earth, I want to keep her safe too." "Well, don't be too confident. Also remember that even in Zgotrilici, you must guard against the Velker and Rogoff's Tundan of Borzozoval. But why should I mention Velker and Tundan?" We had to be on our guard against them before, because we had to plan that way. We can't hope for her now anyway, and let things take their course." "But Danusia is very weak and sick. What if she dies? So I still want to protect Miss Jagienka from these two knights." "Indeed, you're right. It's hard to live with this haggard lady. What if she dies?" "That is for God to decide. Now let us imagine for Miss Zgotrilici." "Accordingly, I should send her home myself, but it is difficult. I have many obvious reasons for not being able to leave Zbyszko now. You saw how he gnashed his teeth, how he tried to catch the old 'comto' If I want to kill him, I'll have to argue with him all the time. If Danusia dies on the way, I'm afraid I won't be able to restrain him then. If I'm not around, no one else can restrain him, so what? Eternal shame will fall on him and our entire family, and this is absolutely not acceptable. Amen!" The Czech replied: "Hey! I think there is an easy way. Give me the executioner, let me keep him in charge, and send him to Jurand of Spykhov to kill him." "How clever you are! God bless you with health," Macko exclaimed joyfully. "That's a very simple solution, very simple. As long as you send him to Spyhof alive, you can send him any way you like." "Then let me take the Schütner bitch too, and if she doesn't cause trouble for me on the way, I'll take her to Spychof too; if she does, I'll hang her from a tree. .” "Sending off this pair of scoundrels may speed up Danusia's recovery, for their presence frightens her. But if you take that maid away, who will serve Danusia?" "You can always find an old woman among the locals or peasants fleeing with their families, any woman you meet, any woman is better than this bitch. For the time being, Zbyszko can take care of his wife himself." "You are more thoughtful than usual today. Zbyszko is with her a lot, and she may recover more quickly; he can do double duty for her, being her father and mother. Then That's all. When are you going to start?" "Starting before dawn; I'll lie down now, and it's not midnight yet." "The constellation of Auriga has ascended to the sky, and the chicken hasn't appeared yet." ① That is the constellation Auriga, which has other names such as hen and spoon. "Thank God we've finally sorted this out, otherwise I'd be really upset." Lying beside the dying fire, the Czech, covered in a long fur robe, fell asleep at once.But at the end of the night, before the sky turned white, he woke up, got up from the bed, looked at the stars, stretched his somewhat numb limbs, and went to wake Macko. "It's time for me to go," he said. "Where are you going?" Macko asked bewilderedly, wiping his eyes with his fist. "Go to Spychof." "Yes, I almost forgot. Who's snoring loud enough to wake the dead?" "It's Knight Arnold. Let me throw some twigs on the fire first, and then call someone." He went, came back in a hurry, and whispered from afar: "My lord, it's broken, it's a bad thing!" "What's the matter?" cried Macko, jumping up hastily. "The maid has escaped. They put her among the horses, and may the thunder strike them. As soon as the people fell asleep, she slid away like a snake. Come, my lord!" Frightened, Macko and Hlava hurried to the horses, where they found only one servant, and the rest went off in pursuit of the fugitive woman.But the night was so dark, and the woods so dense, that it was foolish to go on searching, so after a while they all came back dejected.Macko beat them quietly with his fist.Then I had no choice but to return to the fire. Zbyszko, who had been keeping watch in the hut, was not asleep, and when he heard any commotion, he came to inquire about it.Macko told him the details of his consultations with the Czechs, and also about the escape of the maid. "That's not a very bad thing," said the old knight. "Because if she doesn't starve to death, she will fall into the hands of the peasants and be skinned alive by them; that is, she has escaped the wolves first. It is a pity that she escaped the punishment of Spychoff." Zbyszko, too, regretted that she had escaped the punishment she deserved at Spychov; otherwise, he would have heard the news with no great importance.He had no objection to the Czech leaving with Siegfried, since he was not interested in anything not directly related to Danusia.He started talking about her right away. "To-morrow we set off, and I intend to ride with her on the same horse, and let her sit in front of me." "How is she? Is she asleep?" Macko asked. "She often hums. I don't know if she is humming in sleep or awake. I'm afraid it will scare her, so I don't want to disturb her." Their conversation was interrupted by the Czech, who, seeing Zbyszko, shouted: "Oh! Is the young lord up too? Now I must start! The horses are ready, and I tie the old ghost to the saddle. It will be daylight soon, and the night is short now. Good-bye, my lord! " "God bless you! May you be healthy!" Halava took Matzko aside again and said to him: "I would also like to ask you sincerely, that in case there should be any change ... you know, my lord ... any misfortune ... you will send a messenger to Spyhof as quickly as possible. If we leave Spy Huff, let him catch up with us!" "Well," Macko said, "I also forgot to tell you to send Jagienka to Plotsk. Do you understand? Go to the bishop there and tell him who she is, that she is The abbot's goddaughter, the abbot has a will to keep with the bishop; and then asks him to protect her, which is also written in the abbot's will." "What if the Bishop orders us to stay in Plotsk?" "Then listen to him and follow his advice in everything." "That's all, my lord! Good-bye!" "goodbye!"