第24章

"Avaunt!" cried he, "I will listen no more to thy evil stories about the knight Paris: they would end by driving me quite mad.""My stories about Paris are not needed for that!" grinned the little Master."It is enough that the Helen of thy heart should be journeying towards Montfaucon.Believe me, madness has thee already, head and heart.Or wouldest thou that she should remain? For that, however, thou must be more courteous to me than thou art now."Therewith he raised his voice towards the sea, as if fiercely rebuking it, so that Sintram could not but shudder and tremble before the dwarf.But he checked himself, and grasping his sword-hilt with both hands, he said, contemptuously: "Thou and Gabrielle! what acquaintance hast thou with Gabrielle?""Not much," was the reply.And the little Master might be seen to quake with fear and rage as he continued: "I cannot well bear the name of thy Helen; do not din it in my ears ten times in a breath.

But if the tempest should increase? If the waves should swell, and roll on till they form a foaming ring round the whole coast of Norway? The voyage to Montfaucon must in that case be altogether given up, and thy Helen would remain here, at least through the long, long, dark winter.""If! if!" replied Sintram, with scorn."Is the sea thy bond-slave?

Are the storms thy fellow-workmen?"

"They are rebels, accursed rebels," muttered the little Master in his red beard."Thou must lend me thy aid, sir knight, if I am to subdue them; but thou hast not the heart for it.""Boaster, evil boaster!" answered the youth; "what dost thou ask of me?""Not much, sir knight; nothing at all for one who has strength and ardour of soul.Thou needest only look at the sea steadily and keenly for one half-hour, without ever ceasing to wish with all thy might that it should foam and rage and swell, and never again rest till winter has laid its icy hold upon your mountains.Then winter is enough to hinder Duke Menelaus from his voyage to Montfaucon.And now give me a lock of your black hair, which is blowing so wildly about your head, like ravens' or vultures' wings."The youth drew his sharp dagger, madly cut off a lock of his hair, threw it to the strange being, and now gazed, as he desired, powerfully wishing, on the waves of the sea.And softly, quite softly, did the waters stir themselves, as one whispers in troubled dreams who would gladly rest and cannot.Sintram was on the point of giving up, when in the moonbeams a ship appeared, with white-swelling sails, towards the south.Anguish came over him, that Gabrielle would soon thus quickly sail away; he wished again with all his power, and fixed his eyes intently on the watery abyss."Sintram," a voice might have said to him--"ah, Sintram, art thou indeed the same who so lately wert gazing on the moistened heaven of the eyes of Gabrielle?"And now the waters heaved more mightily, and the howling tempest swept over the ocean; the breakers, white with foam, became visible in the moonlight.Then the little Master threw the lock of Sintram's hair up towards the clouds, and, as it was blown to and fro by the blast of wind, the storm burst in all its fury, so that sea and sky were covered with one thick cloud, and far off might be heard the cries of distress from many a sinking vessel.

But the crazy pilgrim with the dead men's bones rose up in the midst of the waves, close to the shore, gigantic, tall, fearfully rocking;the boat in which he stood was hidden from sight, so mightily raged the waves round about it.

"Thou must save him, little Master--thou must certainly save him,"cried Sintram's voice, angrily entreating, through the roaring of the winds and waves.But the dwarf replied, with a laugh: "Be quite at rest for him; he will be able to save himself.The waves can do him no harm.Seest thou? They are only begging of him, and therefore they jump up so boldly round him; and he gives them bountiful alms--very bountiful, that I can assure thee."

In fact, as it seemed, the pilgrim threw some bones into the sea, and passed scatheless on his way.Sintram felt his blood run cold with horror, and he rushed wildly towards the castle.His companion had either fled or vanished away.