Chapter 69 Chapter Thirty-Five

Macko and Zbyszko had originally agreed to leave Marburg immediately.But after listening to the encouraging words of Sentram of Mahikovich, they could not go that day.Because a luncheon was held at the upper castle, followed by a dinner for envoys and guests, Zbyszko was also invited because he was one of the king's knights, Macko was also invited because of Zbyszko. was invited to go.The luncheon, which was held in the grand and splendid dining-room, was not well attended.There are ten windows in the restaurant, which are full of light, and the entire vaulted dome is supported by only one pillar, which is a rare feature in architectural art.Apart from the king's knights, the only foreign guests invited were the counts of Shuapia and Burgundy, who, though subjects of a wealthy sovereign, borrowed money from the Knights of the Crusader in their name.Among the ministers attending the luncheon, sitting with the grand master were four high priests who were called pillars of the order.These were the Grand Komto, the Alms Steward, the Deacon of the Sacristy, and the Great Treasurer.The fiftieth pillar was the Generalissimo, who was on the expedition to Witout.

Although the knights of the Crusader had sworn to live in poverty, they ate on plates of gold and silver, and drank rose wine, because the Grand Master wanted to show off to the Polish envoys.But despite the abundance of dishes and sweets, the luncheon was always a bit dull for the guests, as everyone was obliged to obey the rules and the conversation was not lively. But dinner is not so restrained.Dinner was held in the large dining hall of the Order (Lemto Monastery).All the monks and the guests who had not had time to join the Marshal's army in attacking Witout were present, and there was great excitement.This joy did not give rise to any arguments or quarrels.It is true that the foreign knights knew that they would inevitably have to fight the Polish knights, so they squinted at them.But the knights of the crusader had warned them beforehand to be peaceful, and especially demanded that they should keep it, because they were afraid of offending the king's messengers, and lest he offend the king himself and the whole kingdom.But even so, the Knights still showed an unfriendly attitude, and even warned the guests to beware of the violent Poles: "If anyone says a bad word, they will pull out your beard without hesitation, or Teach you to eat with a knife." But the guests were surprised to see that Povara of Tachiv and Sentram of Mašković were both good-natured, and they immediately guessed that they were not Poles. Brutal, but the tongue of a crusader knight is malicious and bitter.

Some of the guests were accustomed to the refined entertainment of Western courts.The customs of the Knights of the Crusader are generally not well understood, for there was a rowdy band at the banquet, vulgar songs were sung by traveling musicians, and vulgar things were made by clowns, dancing bears, and There are barefoot girls.People were surprised to see women in the upper castle, and it was explained to them that the prohibition had been lifted long ago, and that even the great Weinrich Knipprod had been with the beautiful Maria von Alf. Lippin dances here.The monks explained to them that only women were forbidden to stay in the castle, but they could come to the banquet in the great dining room.They said that last year the Duchess of Wittout lived in the guardhouse of the castle, which was furnished in a very luxurious room, and she came here every day to play checkers, which were made of gold and given to her that night after the game, every day. in this way.

That night, they played not only checkers and chess, but also dice.Many people were playing chess, and the conversation was drowned out by the drumming of songs and the blare of bands, but there were moments of silence sometimes amidst the din.Sentram of Mahikovich took advantage of this opportunity, pretending to be ignorant, to ask the grand master whether the subjects of all countries liked the Knights very much. Conrad von Jungingen heard this question and replied: "Whoever loves the cross must also love the Knights." This answer pleased both the order and the guests.They applauded him for it, and he went on, contentedly:

"Whoever is friendly to us, we make him well. But if he is our enemy, we have two ways of dealing with him." "Two ways?" asked the Polish knight. "Your Excellency may not know that from my room to this dining room, there is a small escalator directly in the wall, and there is a domed room next to the escalator. If I lead you to that room, you will understand the first method. gone." "It's true!" shouted the monastic knights. Lord Masikowitz guessed that the Grand Master was referring to the towers filled with gold of which the knights of the crusader boasted, so he paused for a moment before saying:

"Once, ah! long, long ago, a Germanic emperor showed our messenger—his name was Scapek—to see a similar storeroom, and said: 'I can use all the to defeat your lord!' And Skabek threw one of his precious gold rings and said: 'Go, gold, go to gold, we Poles like iron...' Does Your Excellency know what happened next? It was Huntsfeld..." ① Huntsfeld refers to the battlefield near Wroclav, where the Poles smashed the invading army of the German Emperor Henry V in 109.In Polish it is called "Dog Battlefield". "What is Huntsfield?" A dozen Crusader knights asked together.

Sentram replied quietly: "It was a battlefield, where there were not so many Germans to bury, and finally the dogs cleaned them up." The priests and knights of the Crusader Order blushed at the answer, and did not know what to say, but Sentram said: "Gold never beats iron." "Hey!" cried the Grand Master, "we have another way,--it is iron. Have you ever seen the armor workshop in the castle? Good chain mail and sword." Povara of Tachev made no answer, but stretched out his hand to the center of the table and took a knife. This knife was a foot long and about half the width of a finger. It was like a piece of parchment, and then it was held up high for everyone to see, and then handed over to the head of the group.

① ancient ruler, equal to four or five inches. "If all your swords are made of this iron, nothing will be done!" He smiled contentedly, and the priests and secular knights got up and flocked to the Grand Master.They passed the coil of iron that Povara had rolled up to each other in silence; they were terrified at the sight of this power. "By the head of St. Ribaulus!" cried the Grand Master at last. "Your Excellency, you have a pair of iron hands." "And better than iron. Roll up that table knife as if it were made of wax," added the Count of Burgundy.

"Not even blush, nor ribs," cried a priest. "Because," replied Povara, "our people are simple; they have never heard of such wealth and splendor as I see here; but they are tempered." Meanwhile the French and Italian knights were coming up to him, and they were talking to him in their loud tongues, Macko said, and they were talking like knocking on a tin basin.They all admired his strength, and he clinked his glasses with them, saying: "This kind of thing is commonplace at banquets in our country. Often a girl can roll up a knife." But the Germans, who are used to showing off their stature and strength to foreigners, were so ashamed and annoyed that old Helfenstein shouted to the people present:

"This is our disgrace! Master Arnold von Peyton, show them our bones are not made of church candles. Give him a table knife." The servants immediately brought a knife and put it in front of Arnold.But whether the German was distracted by the crowd, or because his fingers were not as strong as Povara's, he could only bend the knife in two, but not wind it up. Many foreign guests, who had heard the Crusader knights tell them privately that they would fight against the old king of Achaean in winter, are now thinking in their hearts, thinking that the winter in this place is very severe. It's also relatively mild, and it's better to go back to their hometown castle as soon as possible.

It's July now, the atmosphere is good, but it's very hot, unexpectedly they would think of such an idea, it's a bit strange.