Chapter 62 Chapter Twenty Eight

At last they brought Danusia's body to the forest of Spyhof, whose borders were guarded day and night by Jurand's men.First one of his servants was sent to report to old man Tolima and Father Kaleb, and the rest led the group through a winding and sunken path, and then onto a wide forest road, out of the forest. , Walking through a large swamp and bog and the mud pool where the birds gather, I came to a high ground where the castle of Spychof is located.As soon as they came out of the forest they heard the church bells, and they knew that the bad news had reached Spyhof.It didn't take much time to see a large group of men and women approaching from a distance.When you walk two or three arrows away from the grass, you can clearly see the faces of those who came.Jurand, supported by Tolima, walks in the front, holding a pathfinding stick.He was instantly recognizable because of his massive stature, his eyes were red holes, and his long white hair fell down his shoulders.Next to him was the Abbe Kaleb, dressed in a white surplice and holding a crucifix.A group of people walking behind them carried Jurand's banner with his arms embroidered on it, and was guarded by Spyhoff's armed men.Behind them are married women in turbans and girls without headdresses.Behind the crowd there was a carriage ready to load the corpses.

As soon as Zbyszko saw Jurand, he ordered the stretcher (which he had been carrying at the front end) to be lowered.Zbyszko went up to the old knight and called out in a very excited voice: "I looked for her everywhere, and finally found her and rescued her, but she would rather go to God than return to Spyhof!" He was so sad that he couldn't bear it anymore, and threw himself into Jurand's arms. Li, hugging his neck, humming and saying: "Oh, Jesus, Jesus! Oh, Jesus! . . . " Impressed by this sight, the armed servants of Spyhof struck their shields with their spears.There was nothing else they could do to express their desire for vengeance.One by one the women wiped their eyes with their aprons, or covered their heads completely, and cried out in reverent and mournful voices: "Unlucky. Miserable! Miserable! You are happy, we are sad. Death put You've turned into a skeleton. Miserable! Miserable!"

Some women looked up, closed their eyes and cried: "Are you dissatisfied with us, little flower? You moved your father to mourn here, but you went to rest in heaven. Miserable! Miserable!" Finally, some women Pray that she will pity the tears of her father and husband.The weeping sounded like singing and mourning, for the simple people had no other way of expressing their grief. But Jurand broke free from Zbyszko's embrace, stretched out his crutch before him, and expressed his intention to go to Darusia.Tolima and Zbyszko helped him to the stretcher.Kneeling in front of the corpse, he touched her forehead and then her folded hands, nodding several times.As if he wanted to let people know that this was the body of his own daughter, Danusia, and no one else's, but his own flesh and blood.Then he wrapped one arm around her and raised the other broken arm upward.It was understood by all to be his silent appeal to God, more evident than all sad words.Zbyszko couldn't restrain his grief for a moment, almost lost consciousness, and knelt silently on the other side, like a stone statue.It was so quiet that even the chirping of grasshoppers and the buzzing of flies in the fields could be heard clearly.

Finally, Father Kaleb sprinkled holy water on the faces of Danusia, Zbyszko, and Jurand, and sang.When he had finished, he prayed aloud in a tone that seemed prophetic; that the martyrdom of that innocent child would be the last drop in the cup of heinous sin, that the day of God's judgment, retribution, punishment, and condemnation would come. Then they all went to Spychoff; the body was not placed in a carriage, but on a stretcher decorated with flowers, and walked in front of the procession.The bells kept ringing, as if calling everyone to the chapel.They sang all the way, walked on the big pasture, bathed in the afterglow of the golden sunset, as if the dead man was indeed leading them to the eternal glorious realm.

By the time we reached Spychof it was already evening and the herds had returned from the fields.The torches and freshly lit candles in the chapel were brightly lit.They put the body inside.By order of Father Kaleb, seven young ladies knelt beside the corpse and said litany all night.Zbyszko also kept watch; at morning prayers he himself put her into the coffin which some skillful carpenters had made in the night out of the trunk of a tree, and in the lid was a golden amber. Jurand was not there, for a sudden and unexpected turn of events had occurred to him.Once he got home, his legs were paralyzed, and by the time they put him to bed, he was motionless and unconscious.Father Kaleb tried in vain to make him answer his own questions; Jurand could neither hear nor understand, but lay on his back with his eyelids raised, his face radiant, and his face moving with joy, and his lips were constantly moving. , as if talking to someone.Both the priest and Tolima understood that he was talking to his dead daughter in heaven and smiling at her.They also understood that he had but his last breath, and that the eyes of the soul had seen eternal bliss; but in this they were all wrong, for Jurand went on like this for a whole week until Zbyszko brought him Jurand was still alive when he left with Macko's ransom.