The Invasion of France in 1814 by Erckmann-Chatrian
CHAPTER X
ROBIN'S VISION
As Hullin, at the head of the mountaineers, was taking his measures forthe defence of his country, the madman Yegof, with his tin crown, thatsad spectacle of humanity shorn of its noblest attribute,intelligence--the madman Yegof, his breast exposed to the fierce wind,his feet bare, reckless of cold, like the reptile in his prison, waswandering from mountain to mountain, in the midst of the snows ofwinter. How comes it that the madman is able to resist the sharpestseverity of the atmosphere, while an intelligent being would succumb toit? Does it arise from a more powerful concentration of life, a morerapid circulation of the blood, a state of continued fever? Or is itthe effect of the extraordinary excitement of the senses, or any otherunknown cause?
Science tells us nothing. She admits only material causes, withoutgiving an account of such phenomena.
So Yegof went on at random, and night came. The cold was redoubled,the fox gnashed his teeth in the pursuit of an invisible prey; thefamished buzzard fell back with empty claws among the bushes, utteringa cry of distress. He, with his raven on his shoulder, gesticulating,jabbering, as if in a dream, kept walking on, from Holderloch toSonneberg, from Sonneberg to Blutfeld.
Now, on this particular night, the old shepherd, Robin, of the farm ofBois-de-Chenes, was destined to be the witness of a most strange andfearful sight.
Some days ago, having been overtaken by the first fall of snow at thebottom of the ravine of the Blutfeld, he had left his cart there toconduct his flock back to the farm; but having discovered that he hadforgotten his sheepskin, and left it in a shed there, he had on thisday, when his work was done, set out about four o'clock in theafternoon to go and fetch it. The Blutfeld, situated between theSchneeberg and the Grosmann, is a narrow gorge, bounded by rocks. Anarrow stream of water winds through it, under shadow of the tallshrubs, and in its depths extends a vast pasturage, all covered withlarge gray stones, that lie thickly scattered about.
This gorge is very little frequented, for there is a wild look aboutthe Blutfeld, especially by the light of a winter moon. The learnedfolks of these regions, the school-master of Dagsburg, and he ofHazlach, say that in that spot occurred the famous battle of theTriboques against the Germans, who wished to penetrate into Gaul, underthe command of a leader named Luitprandt. They say that the Triboques,from the neighboring heights, hurling upon their enemies huge masses ofrocks, crushed them there as in a mortar, and that, on account of thisgreat carnage, the gorge has preserved to this day the name of_Blutfeld_. Fragments of broken pots, of rusty lances, of helmets, andlong swords with cross hilts, are often found there.
At night, when the moon sheds her light upon this field and thoseimmense stones, all covered with snow, when the north wind blows amongthe frost-covered branches, making them rattle and clatter likecymbals, you might fancy you heard the wild cry of the Germans at themoment of surprise, the shrieks of the women, the neighings of thehorses, the rumbling of the chariots in the defile; for it seems thatthese people brought with them, in their skin-covered carriages, women,children, old men, and all that they possessed in gold, and silver, andmovables, like the Germans setting out for America. The Triboquesnever ceased to massacre them during two days, and on the third daythey returned to the Donon, the Schneeberg, the Grosmann, the Giromani,the Hengst,--their broad shoulders stooping under the weight of theirbooty.
This is what is related concerning the Blutfeld, and certainly to seethis gorge enclosed within the mountains like an immense trap, withoutany other outlet than a narrow footpath, it is easy to understand howthe Germans were taken at a disadvantage and fell an easy prey to theirconquerors.
Robin did not reach the spot till between seven and eight o'clock, justas the moon was rising.
The worthy fellow had descended the precipice a hundred times, butnever had he beheld the place so brightly illuminated, and at the sametime of so gloomy an aspect.
At a distance, his white cart, at the bottom of the abyss, looked tohim exactly like one of those enormous stones, covered with snow,beneath which the Germans had been buried. It was at the entrance ofthe gorge, behind a thick cluster of shrubs, and beside it the littletorrent ran murmuring in a slender stream, bright as steel, andsparkling like diamonds.
When he arrived there, the shepherd began to look for the key of thepadlock; then, having unlocked the shed, he crept in on his hands andknees, and found, very fortunately, not only his sheepskin, but an oldhatchet, which he had quite forgotten.
But judge of his surprise when, on issuing from it, he saw the madmanYegof appear at the turn of the footpath, and come straight toward himin the bright moonlight.
The honest man immediately remembered the fearful story told in thekitchen of Bois-de-Chenes, and he felt afraid; but quite anotherfeeling came over him when behind the fool, at fifteen or twenty paces,he beheld, stealthily approaching in their turn, five gray wolves, twobig and three smaller ones.
At first he took them for dogs, but they were wolves. They followedYegof step by step, and he did not appear to see them; his ravenhovered overhead, flitting from the full moonlight to the shadow of therocks, and then returning; the wolves, with flaming eyes, their sharpmuzzles turned up, were sniffing the air; the fool raised his sceptre.
The shepherd pulled-to the door of the shed as quick as lightning, butYegof did not see him. He advanced into the gorge as into a spaciouschamber, to the right and left rose the steep rocks, above whichmyriads of stars were shining. You might have heard a fly move; thewolves made no noise in walking; all was silent, and the raven had justperched on the top of an old withered oak that grew upon one of therocks opposite; his shining plumage looked still darker than usual, ashe turned his head, and seemed to be listening.
It was a strange sight.
Robin said to himself:--"The fool sees nothing, hears nothing; theywill devour him. If he stumbles, if his foot slips, it is all overwith him."
But in the middle of the gorge, Yegof, having turned round, sat downupon a stone, and the five wolves round him, still sniffing the air,squatted on their haunches in the snow.
And then, a really terrible sight--the fool raising his sceptre, madethem a speech, calling them each by his name.
The wolves answered him with dismal howls.
Now this is what he said to them:--"He, Child, Bled, Merweg, and thou,Sirimar, my ancient, we are met together, then, once again! You havereturned fat. There has been good cheer in Germany, eh?"
Then, pointing to the snow-covered gorge:--"You remember the greatbattle?"
First one of the wolves began to howl slowly in a dismal voice, thenanother, then all the five together.
This lasted a good ten minutes.
The raven, perched on the withered branch, did not stir.
Robin would gladly have fled. He put up his prayers, invoked all thesaints, and, in particular, his own patron, for whom all the shepherdsof the mountain have the highest veneration.
But the wolves still continued howling, awakening all the echoes of theBlutfeld.
At last one, the oldest of the number, was silent, then another, thenall, and Yegof continued:--"Yes, yes: that is a dismal story. Look!there is the river down which our blood flowed in streams! No matter,Merweg, no matter; the others have left their bones to whiten on thecommon, and the cold moon has seen their women tearing their hair forthree days and three nights! Oh, that frightful day! Oh, the dogs!were they proud of their great victory? Let them beaccursed--accursed."
The fool had cast his crown to the ground. He now picked it up,groaning as he did so.
The wolves, still crouching round, listened to him like attentivespectators. The biggest among them began to howl, and Yegof answeredhis complaint.
"You are hungry, Sirimar; take comfort, take comfort; you will not wantfor food much longer; the men of our side are coming, and the strifewill begin afresh."
Then rising, and striking his sceptre on a stone, "See," said he,"behold thy bones!"
All the troop followed him, while he, raising himself upon a low rock,and glancing round upon the silent gorge, exclaimed:--"Our war-song issilent! our war-song is now a groan! The hour is near; it willreawaken, and you will be among the warriors; you will possess oncemore these valleys and these mountains. Oh! that sound of wheels,those cries of women, those blows from crushing rocks and stones; Ihear them; the air is full of them. Yes, yes; they fell on us fromabove, and we were surrounded. And now all is dead; hear! all isdead; your bones sleep, but your children are on their way, and yourturn will come. Sing! sing!"
And this time he himself began to howl, while the wolves took up againtheir savage song.
These dismal howls grew more and more loud and appalling; and thesilence of the rocks around, some plunged in darkness, while otherswere fully revealed in the moon's rays, the solemn stillness of everytree and shrub beneath its weight of snow, the distant echoes replyingwith a sad voice to the mournful concert, all were calculated to striketerror into the breast of the old shepherd.
But by degrees his fears grew less, for Yegof and his gloomy processionwere getting farther and farther away from him, and graduallyretreating toward Hazlach.
The raven, in his turn, with a hoarse cry unfurled his wings, and tookhis flight through the sky.
The whole scene vanished like a dream.
Robin heard for a long while after the howlings of the retreatingwolves. They had completely ceased for more than twenty minutes. Thesilence of winter reigned on all sides, when the worthy man felthimself sufficiently recovered from his fright to come out of hishiding-place, and take his way back at full speed to the farm.
On arriving at Bois-de-Chenes, he found everybody stirring. They werepreparing to kill an ox for the troops from the Donon. Hullin, DoctorLorquin, and Louise were already set out with those from the Sarre.Catherine Lefevre was loading her great four-horse wagon with bread,meat, and brandy. People were coming and going in all directions, andall lending a helping hand in the preparations.
Robin could not bring himself to relate to any one all that he had seenand heard. Besides, it seemed to himself so incredible that he reallydared not open his mouth about it.
When he had retired to rest in his crib in the middle of the stable, hesaid to himself that no doubt Yegof had, during the winter, tamed alitter of young wolves, and that he talked nonsense to them just as onetalks sometimes to one's dog.
But, for all that, this strange encounter left a superstitious dreadupon his mind, and even when he had arrived at a great age, the oldfellow never spoke of these things without shuddering.