Alfaleith.org

"He showed me the wing-feather of a bird, which is the mark of recognition of his race when the heroes bear it on their heads," answered Irmgard; but again a tell-tale blush passed over her cheeks.

"I once heard a fool who raised her voice aloud in the hall of men, so that all remained silent, as the forest songsters are silent with a young cuckoo begins its cooing."

"Was it presumptuous in me to point him out? It was not indecorous; my heart was full, and my friends will forgive me; do not thou, mother, be angry with me."

But the Princess continued:

"It gives me no pleasure to see the stranger remaining at our hearth. It becomes the master of the house to be hospitable to suppliants, but the mistress of the house must hold the keys with a firm hand, that the property may not be squandered; and she guards her poulty-yard, that the martens may not make their way in. If the stranger by his leap over the horses thought to leap into the inheritance of my lord, into provision-chamber and kitchen, his bold spirit will avail him little. But thou, as thou art my daughter, shouldst keep at a distance from one who lives as a wild man, homeless, banished, and as poor as the traveling beggar who begs for alms at our gate."

Irmgard raised herself up proudly:

"Of whom dost thou speak, Princess? Dost thou mean the hero to whom the master of the house has offered the seat of honor? The innocent one, who came to us in confidence upon the oath of my father? I have heard that the father of my father mixed in a holy drink drops of his blood with the blood of a king's race, that their descendants might keep love and honor to one another. If the son of that King is a stranger to others, in the house of my grandfather none ought to call him so; thou thyself least of all."

"As I hear thy insolent speech," exclaimed the mother, "the old sorrow revives in my heart, that thy brother is no longer among the living. On the unhappy day on which he was slain by one of the King's men, thou becamest the only child of my care, and ill thou rewardest thy mother.

"Were my brother alive, he also would desire, as the highest honor, to be the companion in war of the hero whom thou insultest as a beggar."

"Since thy brother has vanished from this earth, thou hast become the inheritor of this country, and thy mother has to consider to whom thy father should marry thee."

"If I am the inheritor in this house, I am also an inheritor of alliance duties and sworn oaths; and I intend to keep them truly. I have never refused honor to thy kindred --- neither to uncle Sintram, nor to thy nephew Theodulf, whatever I may think of them in my heart; but thou must not blame me if I also show love to those who are friends of my father's family."

<< Previous Page | Back | Next Page >>