Classic Audiobook Collection - The Talisman by Sir Walter Scott ~ Full Audiobook [adventure]

Starting point is 00:00:00 the talisman by sir walter scott introduction to the talisman the betrothed did not greatly please one or two friends who thought that it did not well correspond to the general title of the crusaders they urged therefore that without direct allusion to the manners of the eastern tribes and to the romantic conflicts of the period the title of a tale of the crusaders would resemble the play-bill which is said to have announced the tragedy of hamlet the character of the prince of denmark being left out on the other hand i felt the difficulty of giving a vivid picture of a part of the world with which i was almost totally unacquainted unless by early recollections of the arabian nights entertainments and not only did i labour under the incapacity of ignorance in which as far as regards eastern manners i was as thickly wrapped as an egyptian in his fog but my contemporaries were many of them as much enlightened upon the subject as if they had been inhabitants of the favoured land of goshen the love of travelling had pervaded all ranks and carried the subjects of britain into all quarters of the world greece so attractive by its remains of arts by its struggles for freedom against a mohammedian tyrant by its very name where every fountain has its classical legend palestine endeared to the imagination by yet more sacred remembrances had been of late surveyed by british eyes and descried by recent travellers had I, therefore, attempted the difficult task of substituting manners of my own invention, instead of the genuine costume of the East, almost every traveller I met,

Starting point is 00:01:49 who had extended his route beyond what was anciently called the Grand Tour, had occurred aright by ocular inspection to chastise me for my presumption. Every member of the traveller's club, who could pretend to have thrown his shoe over Edom, was, by having done so, constituted my lawful crue. critic and corrector. It occurred, therefore, that where the author of Anastasius, as well as he of Hage Baba, had described the manners and vices of the Eastern nations, not only with fidelity, but with the humour of Lesage and the ludicrous power of Fielding himself. One who was a perfect stranger to the subject must necessarily produce an unfavourable contrast.

Starting point is 00:02:33 The poet laureate also, in the charming tale of Thelba, had shown how extensive might be the researches of a person of acquirements and talent, by dint of investigation alone, into the ancient doctrines, history, and manners of the eastern countries. In which we are probably to look for the cradle of mankind. Moore, in his Lala Rook, had successfully trod the same path, in which, too, Byron, joining ocular experience to extensive reading, had written some of his most attractive poems. In a word, the Eastern themes had been already so successfully handled

Starting point is 00:03:12 by those who were acknowledged to be masters of their craft, that I was diffident of making the attempt. These were powerful objections, nor did they lose force when they became the subject of anxious reflection, although they did not finally prevail. The arguments on the other side were, that though I had no hope of rivaling the contemporaries whom I have mentioned, yet it occurred to me as possible to acquit to acquit to me,

Starting point is 00:03:39 myself of the task I was engaged, without entering into competition with them. The period relating more immediately to the Crusades, which I at last fixed upon, was that at which the warlike character of Richard I first. Wild and generous, a pattern of chivalry, with all its extravagant virtues, and its no less absurd errors, was opposed to that of Saladin, in which the Christian and English monarch showed all the cruelty and violence of an Eastern Sultan, and Saladin on the other hand displayed the deep policy and prudence of a European sovereign, whilst each contended which should excel the other

Starting point is 00:04:18 in the knightly qualities of bravery and generosity. This singular contrast afforded, as the author conceived, materials for a work of fiction possessing peculiar interest. One of the inferior characters introduced was the supposed relation of Richard Cordillian, a violation of the truth of history, which gave offence to Mr Mills, the author of the history of chivalry and the Crusades.

Starting point is 00:04:45 Who was not, it may be presumed, aware that romantic fiction naturally includes the power of such invention, which is indeed one of the requisites of the art. Prince David of Scotland, who was actually in the host, and was the hero of some very romantic adventures on his way home, was also pressed into my service, and constitutes one of my dramatist persona. It is true I had already brought upon the field, him of the Lionheart, but it was in a more private capacity than he was here to be exhibited in the talisman. Then as the disguised knight, now in the avowed character of a conquering monarch, so that I doubted not a name so dear to Englishmen as that of King Richard I might contribute to their amusement for more than once.

Starting point is 00:05:37 I had access to all which antiquity believed, whether of reality or fable, on the the subject of that magnificent warrior, who was the proud disposed of Europe and their chivalry, and with whose dreadful name the Saracens, according to a historian of their own country, will want to rebuke their startled horses. Do you think, said they, that King Richard is on the track, that you stray so wildly from it? The most curious register of the history of King Richard is an ancient romance, translated originally from the Norman, and at first certainly having a pretence to be termed a work of chivalry, but latterly becoming stuffed with the most astonishing and monstrous fables.

Starting point is 00:06:22 There is perhaps no metrical romance, upon record where, along with curious and genuine history, are mingled more absurd and exaggerated incidents. We have placed in the appendix to this introduction, the passage of the romance in which Richard figures as an ogre, or literal cannibal. A principal incident in the story is that from which the title is derived. Of all people who ever lived, the Persians were perhaps most remarkable

Starting point is 00:06:52 for their unshaken credulity in amulets, spells, peripats, and similar charms, framed it was said, under the influence of particular planets, and bestowing high medical powers, as well as the means of advancing men's fortunes in various manners. A story of this kind, relating to a crusader of eminence, is often told in the west of Scotland. and the relic alluded to is still in existence, and even yet held in veneration. Sir Simon Lockhart of Leon Gartland made a considerable figure in the reigns of Robert the Bruce and of his son David. He was one of the chief of that band of Scottish chivalry, who accompanied James, the Good Lord Douglas, on his expedition to the Holy Land with the heart of King Robert Bruce.

Starting point is 00:07:42 Douglas, impatient to get at the Saracens, ended into war with those of Spain and was killed there. lockhart proceeded to the holy land with such scottish knights as it escaped the fate of their leader and assisted for some time in the wars against the saracens the following adventure is said by tradition to have befallen him he made prisoner in battle and a mere of considerable wealth and consequence the aged mother of the captive came to the christian camp to redeem her son from his state of captivity lockhart is said to have fixed the price at which his prisoner should ransom himself and the lady pulling out a large embroidered purse proceeded to tell down the ransom like a mother who pays little respect to gold in comparison of her son's liberty in this operation a pebble inserted in a coin some say of the lower empire fell out of the purse and the saracen matron testified so much haste to recover it as gave the scotch-night a high-eyed to high-eye of its value, when compared with gold or silver. I will not consent, he said, to grant your son's liberty, unless that amulet be added to his ransom.

Starting point is 00:08:57 The lady not only consented to this, but explained to Sir Simon Lockhart the mode in which the talisman was to be used, and the uses to which it might be put. The water in which it was dipped operated as a stiptic, as a fibrofuge, and persist other properties as a medical talisman. sir simon lockhart after much experience of the wonders which it brought brought it to his own country and left it to his heirs by whom and by clidesdale in general it was and is still distinguished by the name of the lee penny from the name of his native seat of lee the most remarkable part of its history perhaps was that it so especially escaped condemnation when the church of scotland chose to impeach many other cures which savoured of the miraculous as occasioned by sorcery, and censored the appeal to them. Except in only that the amulet, called the Leapenny,

Starting point is 00:09:58 to which it pleads God to annex certain healing values which the church did not presume to condemn. It still, as has been said, exists, and its powers are sometimes resorted to. Of late they have been chiefly resurrected to cure of persons bitten by mad dogs, and as the illness in such cases frequently arises from imagination, there can be no reason for doubting that water which has been poured on the leapenny furnishes a congenial cure. Such is the tradition concerning the talisman, which the author

Starting point is 00:10:32 has taken the liberty to vary in applying it to his own purposes. Considerable liberties have also been taken with the truth of history, both respect to Conrad of Montserrat's life, as well as his death. That Conrad, however, was reckoned to the enemy of Richard, is agreed both in history and romance. The general opinion of the terms upon which they stood may be guessed from the proposal of the Saracens that the Marquess of Montserrat should be invested with certain parts of Syria, which they were to yield to the Christians. Richard, according to the romance which bears his name, could no longer repress his fury. The Marquess, he said, was a traitor. who had robbed the knights of Spittalers as £60,000, the present of his father Henry,

Starting point is 00:11:20 that he was a renegade, whose treachery had occasioned the loss of Aker, and he concluded by a solemn oath that he would cause him to be drawn to pieces by wild horses, if he should ever venture to pollute the Christian camp by his presence. Philip attempted to intercede in favour of the Marquess, and, throwing down his glove, offered to become a pledge for his fidelity to the Christians. But his offer was rejected, and he was obliged to give way to Richard's impetuosity, history of chivalry.

Starting point is 00:11:55 Comrade de Montserrat makes a considerable figure in those wars, and was at length put to death by one of the followers of the sheikh, or old man of the mountain. Nor did Richard remain free of the suspicions of having instigated his death. It may be said in general that most of the incidents introduced in the following, following tale are fictitious, and that reality, where it exists, is only retained in the characters of the piece. Abbotsford 1 July 1832 Appendix to Introduction While warring in the Holy Land, Richard was seized with a nagu.

Starting point is 00:12:34 The best leeches of the camp were unable to affect the cure of the king's disease, but the prayers of the army were more successful. He became convalescent, and the first symptom of his recovery was a violent. longing for pork. But pork was not likely to be plentiful, in a country whose inhabitants had an abhorrence for swine's flesh, and, though his men should be hanged, they nay might in that country, for gold, nay silver, nay money, no pork find, take, nay get, that King Richard might ought of eat. An old knight with Richard bidding, when he heard of that tiding, that the king as once were such to the steward he spake privilege our lord the king sore is sick i wist after pork he a long d is ye may none fine to sell no man be hardy him so to tell if he did he might die now behoos to dun as i shall say thou he wert naught of that take a saracen young and fat in haste let the thief be slain opened in his skin off flaying

Starting point is 00:13:44 and sodden full hastily with powder and with spisory and with saffron of good colour when the king feels thereof savour out of a gue if he be went he shall have hitherto good talent when he has had good taste and eaten well a good repast and supped of the brewis a sup slept after and sweat a drop through goddess help and my counsel soon he shall be fresh and hail the sooth to say at words few slainan's sodom was the heath and shrew before the king it was forth brought quode his men lord we have pork sort eats and saps of this bruis suet thorough grace of god it shall be your boot before king richard calf a knight he ate faster than he carve might the king ate the flesh and knew the bones and drank well after for the nonce and when he had eaten enough, his folk hem turned away, and Lao, he lay still and drew in his arm. His chamberl in him wrapped warm. He lay and slept, and sweat astound, and became whole and sound. King Richard clad him and arose, and walked a bouton in the close. An attack of the Saracens was repelled by Richard in person, the consequence of which is told in the following lines.

Starting point is 00:15:14 when king richard had rested awhile a night his arms gan unlace him to comfort and solace him was brought a sop in wine the head of that like swine that i of eight the cook he bade for feeble i am and faint and mad of mine evil now i am fear serve me therewith at my superee quote the cook that head i ne have then said the king so god save me but i see the head of that swine for sooth thou shalt lessen thine the cook saw none other might be he fed the head and let him see he fell on knees and made a cry lo hear the head my lord mercy the cook had certainly some reason to fear that his master would be struck with horror at the recollection of the dreadful banquet to which he owed his recovery but his fears were soon dissipated the swat fierce when the king seeth his black beard and white teeth o his lips grinned wide what devil is this the king cried and gain to laugh as he were woed what is saracen's flesh thus good thou never erst i naught wist by god's death and his uprest shall we never die for default while we may in any assault sleigh saracens the flesh may take and seethin and roastern and do hem bake nor in her flesh to the bones now i have proved it once for hunger ere i be woe i and my fork shall eat mo the besieged now offer to surrender upon conditions of safety to the inhabitants while all the public treasure military machines and arms were delivered to the victors together with the further ransom of one hundred thousand bzance after this capitulation

Starting point is 00:17:14 the following extraordinary scene took place. We shall give it in words of the humorous and amiable George Ellis, the collector and the editor of these romances. Though the Garrison had faithfully performed the other articles of their contract, they were unable to restore the cross, which was not in their possession, and were therefore treated by the Christians with great cruelty. Daily reports of their sufferings were carried to the Saladin, and as many of them were persons of the highest distinction,

Starting point is 00:17:44 that monarch at the solicitation of their friends dispatched an embassy to King Richard with magnificent presence, which he offered for the ransom of the captives. The ambassadors were persons the most respectable from their age, their rank and their eloquence. They delivered their message in terms of the utmost humility, and, without arraining the justice of the conqueror in his severe treatment of their countrymen, only solicited a period to that severity, laying at his own. his feet the treasures with which they were entrusted, and pleasing themselves and their master for the payment of any further sums, which he might demand as the price of mercy.

Starting point is 00:18:27 King Richard spoke with words mild, the gold to take, God me shield. Among you, partes every charge. I brought in ships and in barge, more gold and silver with me, than has you, Lord, and swilk three. To his treasure, have I no need, but for my love I you bid. To meet with me that ye dwell, and afterward I shall you tell. Thorough counsel I shall you answer. What bode ye shall to your lord bear? The invitation was gratefully accepted. Richard, in the meantime, gave secret orders to his marshal that he should repair the prison, select a certain number of the most distinguished captives, and, after carefully noting their names on a roll of parchment, caused their heads to be instantly struck off.

Starting point is 00:19:14 that these heads should be delivered to the cook with instructions to clear away their hair and after boiling them in a cauldron to distribute them on several platters one to each guest observing to fasten on the forehead of each the piece of parchment expressing the name and family of the victim an hot head bring me before as i were well uphade withal eat thereof fast i shall as it were a tender chick to see how the others will like this horrible ordeal was punctually executed at noon the guests were summoned to wash by the music of the walls the king took his seat by the principal officers of his court at the high table and the rest of the company were marshalled at a long table below him on the cloth were placed portions of salt at the usual distances but neither bread wine nor water the ambassadors rather surprised at the submission but still free from apprehension awaited in silence the arrival of the dinner which was announced by the sound of pipes trumpets and tabors and beheld with horror and dismay the unnatural banquet introduced by the steward and his officers yet their sentiments of disgust and abhorrence and even their fears were for a long time suspended by their curiosity their eyes were fixed on the king who without the slightest change of countenance swallowed the morsels as fast as they could be supplied by the knight who carved them every man then poked other they said this is the devil's brother that slays are men and thus hemse eats their attention was an involuntary fixed on the smirking heads before them they traced in the swollen and distorted features the resemblance of a friend or near relation and received from the fatal scroll which accompanied each dish the sad assurance that the resemblance was not imaginary they sat in torpid silence anticipating their own fate in that of their countrymen

Starting point is 00:21:22 while their ferocious entertainer with fury in his eyes but with courtesy on his lips insulted them by frequent invitations to merriment at length this first course was removed and its place supplied by venison cranes and other dainties accompanied by the richest wines the king then apologized to them for what had passed which he attributed to his ignorance of their taste and assured them of his religious respect for their characters as ambassadors and of his readiness to grant them a safe conduct for their return this boon was all that they now wished to claim and king richard spake to an old man when's home to youth sudan his melancholy that yet abate and says that ye came too late too slowly was your time why guessed ere ye came the flesh was dressed that men shalt and serve with me thus at noon am i say him it shall be naught avail that ye for bar us our vail bread wine fish flesh salmon and conga o'ers none shall die with hunger while we may wenden to fight and slay the saracens downright wash the flesh and roast the head with one saracen it may well feed well a nine or a ten of my good christian men king richard shall warrant there is no flesh so nourishment unto an english man partridge plover heron nay swan cow nay ox sheep nay swine as the head of a sarazen there he is fat and thereto tender and my men be lean and slender while any saracen quick be liven to now in this syrie for he is fat and there too tender and my men be lean and slender while any saracen quick be liven to now in this cyrie for For meat we will nothing care. About and fast we shall rare.

Starting point is 00:23:20 And every day we shall eat, all as many as we may get. To England will be now gone, till they be eaten every one. Elsie's specimens of early English matricial romances. The read may be curious to know, owing to what circumstances so extraordinary invention as that which imputes cannibalism to the king of England, should have found its way into his history. mr james to whom we owe so much that is curious seemed to have traced the origin of this extraordinary rumor with the army of the cross also was a multitude of men the same author declares who made it a profession to be without money they walked barefoot carried no arms and even preceded the beasts of burden in their march living upon roots and herbs and presenting a spectacle both disgusting and pittable a norman who according to all accounts was of noble birth but too having lost his horse continued to follow as a foot-soldier took the strange resolution of putting himself at the head of this race of agabonds who willingly received him as their king amongst the saracens these men became well known under the name of thafus which gibbet translates trudentes and were beheld with great horror from the general persuasion that they fed on the dead bodies of their enemies a report which is occasionally justified, and which the king of the Tharfer has took care to encourage.

Starting point is 00:24:52 This respectable monarch was frequently in the habit of stopping his followers, one by one, in a narrow defile, and of causing them to be searched carefully, less a possession of the least sum of money should render them unworthy of the name of his subjects. If even two sowls were found upon anyone, who has instantly expelled the society of his tribe, the king bidding him contemptuously by arms and fight. This troop, so far from being cumbersome to the army, was infinitely serviceable, carrying burdens, bringing in forage, provisions and tribute, working the machines and the sieges, and above all spreading consternation among the Turks,

Starting point is 00:25:33 who feared death from the lances of the knights, less than the further consummation they heard of under the teeth of the Thathurs. James' history of chivalry. it is easy to concede that an ignorant minstrel finding the taste and ferocity of the thaffirs commemorated in the historical accounts of the holy wars has ascribed their practices and propensities to the monarch of england whose ferocity was considerate as an object of exaggeration as legitimate as his valour abbotsford first july eighteen thirty two end of the introduction the talisman by sir walter scott chapter i they too retired to the wilderness but twas with arms paradise regained the burning sun of syria had not yet attained its highest point in the horizon when a knight of the red cross who had left his distant northern home and joined the host of the crusades in palestine was pacing slowly along the sandy deserts which lie in the vicinity of the dead sea or as it is called the lake asphaltites where the waves of the jordan pour themselves into an inland sea from which there is no discharge of waters

Starting point is 00:26:59 the warlike pilgrim had toiled among cliffs and precipices during the earlier part of the morning more lately issuing from those rocky and dangerous defiles he had ended upon that great plain where the accursed city provoked in ancient days the direct and dreadful vengeance of the omnipotent the toil the thirst the dangers of the way were forgotten as the traveller recalled the fearful catastrophe which had converted into an arid and dismal wilderness the fair and fertile valley of sidim once well watered even as the garden of the lord now a parched and blighted waste condemned to eternal sterility crossing himself as he viewed the dark mass of rolling waters in color as in duality unlike those of any other lake the traveller shuddered as he remembered that beneath these sluggish waves lay the once proud cities of the plain whose grave was dug by the thunder of the heavens or the eruption of subterraneous fire and whose remains were hid even by that sea which holds no living fish in its bosom bears no skiff on its surface and as if its own dreadful bed with the only fit receptacle for its sullen waters sends not like other lakes a tribute to the ocean the whole land around as in the days of moses was brimstone and salt it is not sown nor beareth nor any grass groweth thereon the land as well as the lake might be term dead as producing nothing having resemblance to vegetation and even the very air was entirely devoid of its ordinary winged inhabitants

Starting point is 00:28:56 deterred probably by the odour of bitumen and sulphur which the burning sun excelled from the waters of the lake in steaming clouds frequently assuming the appearance of water-spouts masses of the slimy and sulphurous substance called naphther which floated idly on the sluggish and sullen waves supplied those rolling clouds with new vapors and afforded awful testimony to the truth of the mosaic history upon this scene of desolation the sun shone with almost intolerable splendor and all living nature seemed to have hidden itself from the rays except in the solitary figure which moved through the flitting sand at a foot's pace and appeared the soul-breathing-faces and appeared the soul-breathing thing on the wide surface of the plain. The dress of the rider and the accoutrements of his horse were peculiarly unfit for the travel in such a country. A coat of linked mail with long sleeves, plated gauntlets, and a steel breastplate, had not been esteemed a sufficient weight of armour. There were also his triangular shield suspended round his neck, and his barred helmet of steel, over which he had a hood and collar of mail,

Starting point is 00:30:15 which was drawn around the warrior's shoulders and throat, and filled up the vacancy between the hubrick and the headpiece. His lower limbs were sheathed, like his body, in flexible male, securing the legs and thighs, while the feet rested in plated shoes, which corresponded with the gauntlets. A long, broad, straight-shaped double-edged falchion, with a handle formed like a cross,

Starting point is 00:30:43 corresponded with the stout poignard on the other side. The knight also bore, secured to his saddle, with one end resting on his stirrup, the long steel-headed lance, his own proper weapon, which, as he rode, projected backwards and displayed its little penicel, to dally with the faint breeze or drop in the dead calm. To this cumberous equipment must be edited,

Starting point is 00:31:10 a surcoat of embroidered cloth, much frayed and worn, which was thus far useful that it excluded the burning rays of the sun from the armour, which they would otherwise have rendered intolerable to the wearer. The surcoat bore in several places, the arms of the owner, although much defaced. These seemed to be a couch and leopard, with the motto, I sleep, wake me not. an outline of the same device might be traced on his shield, though many a blow had almost defaced the painting. The flat top of his cumbria cylindrical helmet was unadorned with any crest. In retaining their own unwieldy defensive armour,

Starting point is 00:31:55 the northern crusaders seemed to set a defiance at the nature of the climate and country to which they had come to war. The accoutrements of the horse were scarcely less massive and unwieldy, than those of the rider. The animal had a heavy saddle, plated with steel, uniting in front with a species of breastplate, and behind with defensive armour made to cover the lines. There was a steel axe, or hammer called a mace of arms, and which hung to the saddle bow. The reins were secured by chainwork, and the front stall of the bridle was a steel plate, with apertures for the eyes and nostrils. having in the midst a short sharp pike projecting from the forehead of the horse like the horn of the fabulous unicorn but habit had made the endurance of this load of panoply a second nature both to the knight and his gallant charger

Starting point is 00:32:52 numbers indeed of the western warriors who hurried to palestine died ere they became inured to the burning climate but there were others to whom that climate became innocent and even and friendly, and among this fortunate number was the solitary horsemen who now traversed the border of the Dead Sea. Nature, which cast his limbs in the mould of uncommon strength, fitted to wear his linked hubrick with as much ease as if the meshes had been formed of cobwebs, had endowed him with a constitution as strong as his limbs, and which bade defiance to almost all changes of climate, as well to fatigue and privations of every kind. His disposition seemed, in some degree, to partake of the qualities of his bodily frame,

Starting point is 00:33:43 and as the one possessed great strength and endurance, united with the power of violent exertion, the other, under a calm and undisturbed semblance, had much of the fiery and enthusiastic love of glory, which constituted the principal attribute of the renowned Norman line, and had rendered them sovereigns in every corner of Europe, where they had drawn their adventurous swords. It was not, however, to all the race that fortune proposed such tempting rewards,

Starting point is 00:34:15 and to those obtained by the solitary night during two years' campaign in Palestine had been only temporal fame, and, as he was taught to believe, spiritual privileges. Meantime, his slender stock of money had melted away, the rather that he did not pursue any of the ordinary modes by which the follows of the crusade condescended to recruit the diminished resources at the expense of the people of Palestine. He exacted no gifts from the wretched natives for sparing their possessions when engaged in warfare with the Saracens, and he had not availed himself of any opportunity of enriching himself

Starting point is 00:34:56 by the ransom of prisoners of consequence. The small train which had followed him from his native country, had been gradually diminished, as the means of maintaining them disappeared, and his only remaining squire was at present on a sick-bed, and unable to attend his master, who travelled, as we have seen, singly and alone. This was of little consequence to the crusader, who was accustomed to consider his good sword as his safest escort, and devout thoughts as his best companion. Nature had, however, her demands for refreshment and repose even on the iron frame and patient disposition of the night of the sleeping leopard. And at noon, when the dead sea lay at some distance on his right, he joyfully hailed the sight of two or three palm trees, which arose

Starting point is 00:35:52 beside the well which was assigned for his midday station. His good horse, too, which had plodded for, with the steady endurance of his master, now lifted his head, expanded his nostrils, and quickened his pace, as if he snuffed afar off the living waters, which marked the place of repose and refreshment. But labour and danger were doomed to intervene ere the horse or horsemen reached the desired spot, as the knight of the croissant leopard continued to fix his eyes attentively on the yet distant cluster of palm trees. it seemed to him as if some object was moving among them. The distant form separated itself from the trees, which partly hid its motions,

Starting point is 00:36:40 and advanced towards the night, with a speed which soon showed a mounted horseman, whom is turban, long spear, and green kafftan floating in the wind, on his nearer approach showed to be a Saracan cavalier. In the desert, saith an eastern proverb, no man meets a friend the crusader was totally indifferent whether the infidel who now appeared on his gallant barb as if born on the wings of an eagle came as friend or foe perhaps as a vowed champion of the cross he might rather have preferred the latter he disengaged his lance from his saddle seized it with the right hand placed it in rest with its point half elevated gathered up the reins in the left walked his horse from his saddle walked his horse from his side and his right hand placed it in rest with its point half elevated gathered up the reins in the left walked his horse

Starting point is 00:37:29 horse is metal with the spur, and prepared to encounter the stranger with the calm self-confidence belonging to the victor in many contests. The Saracen came on as a speedy gallop of an Arab horseman, managing his steed more by his limbs and the infliction of his body than by any use of the reins, which hung loose in his left hand, so that he was able to wield the light round buckler of the skin of the rhinoceros, ornamented with silver loops, which he bore on his arm, swinging it as if he meant to oppose its slender circle to the formidable thrust of the western lance. His own spear was not couched or leveled, like that of his antagonist, but grasped by the middle with his right hand, and brandished at arm's length above his head. As the cavalier approached

Starting point is 00:38:22 his enemy at full career, he seemed to expect that the knight of the leopard should put his horse to the gallop to encounter him but the christian knight well acquainted with the customs of eastern warriors did not mean to exhaust his good horse by any unnecessary exertion and on the contrary made a dead halt confident that if the enemy advanced to the actual shock his own weight and that of his powerful charger would give him sufficient advantage without the additional momentum of rapid motion equally sensible and apprehensive of such a probable result the sarac and cavalier when he had approached towards the christian within twice the length of his lance wheeled his steed to the left with inimitable dexterity and rode twice around his antagonist who turning without quitting his ground and presenting his front constantly to his enemy frustrated his attempts to attack him on an unguarded point so that that the Saracen wheeling his horse was fain to retreat to the distance of a hundred yards a second time like a hawk attack in a heron the heathen renewed the charge and a second time was feigned to retreat without coming close to a struggle a third time he approached in the same manner when the christian knight desirous to terminate this illusory warfare in which he might at length have been worn out by the activity of his foeman suddenly seized the mace which hung at his saddle-bow,

Starting point is 00:40:00 and with a strong hand and unerring aim, hurled it against the head of the emir. For such, and not less his enemy appeared, the Saracen was just aware of the formidable missile in time to interpose his light buckler betwixt the mace and his head. But the violence of the blow forced the buckler down on his turban, and though that defence also contributed to dead in its violence, the saracen was beaten from his horse ere the christian could avail himself of this mishap his nimble foeman sprang from the ground and calling on his steed

Starting point is 00:40:38 which instantly returned to his side he leapt into his seat without touching the stirrup and regained all the advantage of which the knight of the leopard hoped to deprive him but the latter had in the meanwhile recovered his mace and the eastern cavalier who remembered the strength and dexterity with which his antagonist had aimed it seemed to keep cautiously out of reach of that weapon of which he had so lately felt the force while he showed a purpose of waging a distant warfare with missile weapons of his own planting his long spear in the sand at a distance from the scene of combat he strung with great address a short bow which he carried at his back and putting his horse to the gallop once more described two or three circles of a wider extent than formerly in the course of which he discharged six arrows at the christian with such an erring skill that the goodness of his harness alone saved him from being wounded in as many places the seventh shaft apparently found a less perfect part of the armor and the christian dropped heavily from his horse but what was the surprise of the saracen when dismounting to examine the condition of his prostrate enemy he found himself suddenly within the grass of the European, who had had recourse to this artifice to bring his enemy within his reach. Even in this deadly grapple the Saracen was saved by his agility and presence of mind. He unloosed the sword-belt in which the knight of the leopard had fixed his hold,

Starting point is 00:42:17 and thus eluding his fatal grasp, mounted his horse, which seemed to watch his motions with the intelligence of a human being, and again rode off. but in the last encounter the Saracen had lost his sword and his quiver of arrows, both of which were attached to the girdle which he was obliged to abandon. He had also lost his turban in the struggle. These disadvantages seemed to incline the Muslim to a truce. He approached the Christian with his right hand extended, but no longer in a menacing attitude.

Starting point is 00:42:52 There is a truce betwixt our nations, he said, in the lingua franca, commonly used for the purpose of communication with the crusaders. Wherefore should there be war betwixt thee and me? Let there be peace betwixt us. I am well contented, answered he of the cruciant leopard. But what security dost thou offer that thou wilt observe the truce? The word of a follower of the prophet was never broken, answered the emir. It is thou, brave Nazarene, for whom I should demand, security, did I not know that treason seldom dwells with courage.

Starting point is 00:43:31 The crusader felt that the confidence of the Muslim made him ashamed of his own doubts. By the cross of my sword, he said, laying his hand on the weapon as he spoke, I will be a true companion to thee, Saracen, while our fortune wills that we remain in company together. By Mohammed, prophet of God, and by Allah, God of the Prophet. replied his late foeman there is not treachery in my heart towards thee and now wend we to yonder fountain for the hour of rest is at hand and the stream had hardly touched my lip when i was called to battle by thy approach the knight of the croissant leopard yielded a ready and courteous assent and the late foes without an angry look or gesture of doubt rode side by side to the little cluster of palm-trees End of Chapter 1. Chapter 2 of the Talisman. This is Libravox recording. All Librevox recordings are in the public domain.

Starting point is 00:44:39 For more information or to volunteer, please visit Libravox.org. Recording by Lizzie Driver. The Talisman by Sir Walter Scott. Chapter 2 Times of danger have always, and in peculiar degree, their seasons of goodwill and security. and this was particularly so in the ancient feudal ages in which as the manners of the period had assigned war to be the chief and most worthy occupation of mankind the intervals of peace or rather of truce were highly relished by those warriors to whom they were seldom granted and endeared by the very circumstances which rendered them transitory it is not worth while preserving any permanent enmity against a foe whom a champion has fought with today and may again stand in bloody opposition to on the next morning the time and situation afforded so much room for the ebullition of violent passions that men unless when peculiarly opposed to each other or provoked by the recollection of private and individual wrongs

Starting point is 00:45:47 cheerfully enjoyed in each other's society the brief intervals of pacific intercourse which a warlike life admitted the distinction of religions nay the fanatical zeal which animated the followers of the cross and of the crescent against each other was much softened by a feeling so natural to generous combatants and especially cherished by the spirit of chivalry this last strong impulse had extended itself gradually from the christians to their mortal enemies the saracens both of spain and of palestine the letter were indeed the letter were indeed no longer the fanatical savages who had burst from the centre of Arabian deserts, with the sabre in one hand and the Quran in the other, to inflict death or the faith of Muhammad, or at the best, slavery and tribute, upon all who dared to oppose the belief of the prophet of Mecca. These alternatives, indeed, had been offered to the unwarlike Greeks and Syrians, but in contending with the Western Christians, animated by a zeal as fiery as their own,

Starting point is 00:46:54 and possessed of as unconquerable courage, address, and success in arms, the Saracens gradually caught a part of their manners, and especially of those chivalrous observances, which was so well calculated to charm the minds of a proud and conquering people. They had their tournaments and games of chivalry. They had even their knights, or some rank analogous, and above all the Saracens observed their plighted faith, with an accuracy which might sometimes put to shame those who owned a better religion their truce is whether national or betwixt individuals were faithfully observed and thus it was that war in itself perhaps the greatest of evils yet gave occasion for display of good faith generosity clemency and even kindly affections which less frequently occur in more tranquil periods

Starting point is 00:47:50 where the passions of men experiencing wrongs or entertaining quarrels which cannot be brought to instant decision are apt to smoulder for a length of time in the bosoms of those who are so unhappy as to be their prey it was under the influence of these milder feelings which soften the horrors of warfare that the christian and saracen who had so lately done their best for each other's mutual destruction rode to slow pace towards the fountain of palm-trees to which the night of the cruxed to the night of the cruxion chante leopard had been tending when interrupted amid passage by his fleet and dangerous adversary each was wrapped for some time in his own reflections and took breath after an encounter which had threatened to be fatal to one or both and their good horses seemed no less to enjoy the interval of repose that of the saracen however though he had been forced into much the more violent and extended sphere of motion appeared to have suffered less from fatigue of motion than the charter of the european knight the sweat hung still clammy on the limbs of the latter when those of the noble arab were completely dried by the interval of tranquil exercise all saving the foam flakes which was still visible on his bridle and housings the loose soil on which he trod so much augmented the distress of the christian's horse heavily loaded by his own armor and the weight of his rider but the latter jumped from his saddle and led his charger along the deep dust in the loamy soil which was burnt in the sun into a substance more impalpable than the finest sand and thus gave the faithful horse refreshment at the expense of his own additional toil for iron-sheathed as he was he sunk over the mailed shoes at every step which he placed on a surface so light and unresisting you are right said the saracen and it was the first word that either had spoken since the their truce was concluded your strong horse deserves your care but what do you do in the desert with an animal which sinks over the fetlock at every step as if he would plant each foot deep as the root of a date-tree

Starting point is 00:50:06 thou speakest rightly saracen said the christian knight not delighted at the tone with which the infidel criticised his favourite steed rightly according to thy knowledge and observation but my good horse hath here now borne me in mine own land over as wide a lake as thou seest yonder spread out behind us yet not wet one hair above his hoof the saracen looked at him with as much surprise as his manners permitted him to testify which was only expressed by a slight approach to a disdainful smile that hardly curled perceptibly the broad thick moustache which enveloped his upper lip it is justly spoken he said instantly composing himself to his usual serene gravity list to a frank and hear a fable thou art not courteous misbeliever replied the crusader to doubt the word of a dub knight and were it not that thou speakest in ignorance and not in malice our truths had its ending ere it has well begun think as thou i tell thee an untruth when i say that i one of five hundred horsemen are uncombed incomplete mail have ridden aye and ridden for miles upon water as solid as the crystal and ten times less brittle what wouldst thou tell me answered the muslim yonder inland sea thou dost point at is peculiar in this that by the especial curse of god it suffers nothing to sink in its waves but wafts them away and cast them on its margin but neither the dead sea nor any of the seven oceans which invari in the earth will endure on their search is the pressure of a horse's foot more than the red sea endured to sustain the advance of pharaoh and his host you speak truth after your knowledge saracen said the christianite and yet trust me i fable not according to mine

Starting point is 00:52:02 heat in this climate converts the soil into something almost as unstable as water and in my land cold often converts the water itself into a substance as hard as rock let us speak of this no longer for the thoughts of the calm clear blue refulgence of a winter's lake glimmering to stars and moonbeam aggravates the horrors of this fiery desert whirmy thinks the very air which we breathe is like the vapour of its fiery furnace seven times heated the saracen looked on him with some attention as if to discover in what sense he was to understand words which to him must have appeared either to contain something of mystery or of imposition at length he seemed determined in what manner to receive the language of his new companion you are he said of a nation that loves to laugh and you make sport with yourselves and with others by telling what is impossible and reporting what never chanced thou art one of the knights of france who hold it for glee and pastime to gab as they term it of exploits that are beyond human power open bracket gabber this french word signified a sort of sport much used among the french civilry which consisted in firing with each other in making the most romantic gasconades the verb and the meaning are retained in scottish close brackets i will wrong to challenge for the time the privilege of thy speech since boasting is more natural to thee than truth i am not of their land neither of their fashion said the knight which is as thou well sayest to gab of that which they dare not undertake or undertaking cannot perfect but in this i have imitated their folly brace arison that in talking to thee of what thou canst not comprehend

Starting point is 00:53:58 i have even in speaking most simple truth fully incurred the character of a braggot in thy eyes so pray you let my words pass they had now arrived at the knot of palm-trees and the fountain which whirled out from beneath their shade in sparkling profusion we have spoken of a moment of truce in the midst of a war and this a spot of beauty in the midst of a sterile desert will scarce less dear to the imagination it was a scene which perhaps would elsewhere have deserved little notice but as a single speck in a boundless horizon which promised the refreshment of shade and living water these blessings held cheap where they are common rendered the fountain in its neighborhood a little paradise some generous or charitable hand ere yet the evil days of palestine began had walled in and anted over the fountain to preserve it from being absorbed in the earth or choked by the flitting clouds of dust with which the last breath of wind covered the desert the art was now broken and partly ruinous but it is still so far projected over and covered in the fountain that it excluded the sun in a great measure from its waters which hardly touched by a straggling beam while all around was blazing lay in a steady repose alike delightful to the eye and the imagination stealing from under the arch they were first received in a marble basin much defaced indeed but still cheering the eye by showing that the place was anciently considered as a station that the hand of man had been there and that man's accommodation had been in some measure attended to the thirsty and weary traveller was reminded by these signs that others had suffered similar difficulties reposed in the same spot and doubtless

Starting point is 00:55:58 found their way in safety to a more fertile country again the scarce visible current which escaped from the basin served to nourish the few trees which surrounded the fountain and where it sunk into the ground and disappeared its refreshing presence was acknowledged by a carpet of velvet for dur in this delightful spot the two warriors halted and each after his own fashion proceeded to relieve his horse from saddle bit and rain, and permitted the animals to drink at the basin, e'er they refreshed themselves from the fountain-head, which arose under the vault. Then they suffered the steeds to go loose, confident that their interest, as well as their domesticated habits, would prevent their straying from the pure water and fresh grass. Christian and Saracen next sat down together on the turf and produced each the small allowance of store which they carried for their own refreshment yet ere they severally proceeded to their scanty meal they eyed each other with that curiosity which the close and doubtful conflict in which they had been so lately engaged was calculated to inspire each was desirous to measure the strength and form some estimate of the character of an adversary so formidable

Starting point is 00:57:23 and each was compelled to acknowledge that had he fallen in the conflict it had been by a noble hand the champions formed a strike in contrast to each other in person and features and might have formed no inaccurate representatives of their different nations the frank seemed a powerful man built after the ancient gothic cast of form with light brown hair which on the removal of his helmet was seen to curl thick and profusely over his head his features had acquired from the hot climate a hue much darker than those parts of his neck which were less frequently exposed to view or than was warranted by his full and well-opened blue eye the colour of his hair and of the moustaches which thickly shaded his upper lip while his chin was carefully divested of beard after the norman fashion his nose was grecian and well formed his mouth rather large in proportioned but filled with well-set strong and beautifully white teeth his head small and sat upon the neck with much grace his age could not exceed thirty but of the effects of toil and climate were allowed for he might be three or four years under that period his form was tall powerful and athletic like that of a man whose strength might in later life become unwieldy but which was hither o united with lightness and activity his hands when he withdrew the mailed gloves were long fair and well proportioned the wrist bones peculiarly large and strong and the arms remarkably well-shaped and brawny.

Starting point is 00:59:12 A military hardihood and careless frankness of expression characterized his language and his motions. And his voice had the tone of one more accustomed to command than to obey, and who was in the habit of expressing his sentiments aloud and boldly whenever he was called upon to announce them. The Saracen emir formed a marked in strike in contrast with the Western Crusader. His statue was indeed of a word. above the middle size but he was at least three inches shorter than the european whose size approached the gigantic his slender limbs and long spare hands and arms though will proportion to his person and suited the style of his countenance

Starting point is 00:59:55 did not at first aspect promise the display of vigour and elasticity which the emir had lately exhibited but on looking more closely his limbs were exposed to view seemed divested of all that was fleshy or cumbersome so that nothing being left but bone brawn and sinew it was a frame fitted for exertion and fatigue far beyond that of a bulky champion whose strength and size are counterbalanced by weight and who is exhausted by his own exertions the countenance of the saracen naturally bore a general national resemblance to the eastern tribe from whom he descended and was as unlike as possible to the exaggerated terms in which the menstruals of the day were one to represent the infidel champions, and the fabulous description which assists at art still presents as the Saracen's head upon signposts. His features were small, well-formed and delicate, though deeply embrowned by the eastern sun, and terminated by a flowing and curled black beard, which seemed trimmed with peculiar care. The nose was straight and regular,

Starting point is 01:01:09 the eyes keen deep-set black and glowing and his teeth equalled in beauty the ivory of his deserts the person and proportions of the saracen in short stretched on the turf near to his powerful antagonist might have been compared to his sheenie and crescent-formed sabre with its narrow and light but bright and keen damascus blade contrasted with the long and ponderous gothic war-sword which was flung and buckled on the same sod the emir was in the very flower of his age and might perhaps have been termed eminently beautiful but with the narrowness of his forehead and something of too much thinness and sharpness of feature or at least what might have seemed such in a european estimate of beauty the manners of the eastern morrow were grave graceful and decorous indicating however in some particulars the habitual restraint which men of warm and choleric tempers often set in the as a god upon the native impetuosity of disposition, and at the same time a sense of his own dignity, which seemed to impose a certain formality of behaviour in him who entertained it. This haughty feeling of superiority was perhaps equally entertained by his new European acquaintance,

Starting point is 01:02:31 but the effect was different, and the same feeling which dictated to the Christian knight, a bold, blunt and somewhat careless bearing, as one too conspicuous of his own importance to be anxious about the opinions of others appeared to prescribe to the saracen a style of courtesy more studiously and formerly observant of ceremony both were courteous but the courtesy of the christian seemed to flow from a good-humoured sense of what was due to others that of the muslim from a high feeling of what was to be expected from himself the provision which each had made for his refreshment was simple but the meal of the saracen was abstemious a handful of dates and a morsel of coarse barely bred sufficed to relieve the hunger of the latter whose education had habituated them to the fair of the desert although since their syrian conquests the arabian simplicity of life frequently gave place to the most unbounded profusion of luxury a few drafts from the lovely found him by which they reposed completed his meal that of the christian though coarse was more genial dried hogs flesh the abomination of the muslim was the chief part of his repast

Starting point is 01:03:55 and his drink derived from a leathern bottle contained something better than pure element he fed with more display of appetite and drank with more appearance of satisfaction than the saracen judged it becoming to show in the performance of a mere bodily function. And doubtless, the secret contempt which each entertained for the other, as the follower of a false religion, was considerably increased by the marked difference of their diet and manners. But each had found the weight of his opponent's arm, and the mutual respect which the bold struggle had created, was sufficient to subdue other and inferior considerations. Yet the Saracen could not help remarking the circumstances which disdiscences. pleased him in the christian's conduct and manners and after he had witnessed for some time in silence the keen appetite which protracted the knight's banquet long after his own was concluded he thus addressed him

Starting point is 01:05:00 valiant nazarene is it fitting that one who can fight like a man should feed like a dog or a wolf even a misbelieving jew would shudder at the food which you seem to eat with as much relish as if it were fruit from the trees of paradise valiant saracen answered the christian looking up with some surprise at the accusation thus unexpectedly brought know thou that i exercise my christian freedom in using that which is forbidden to the jews being as they esteem themselves under the bondage of the old law of moses we saracen be it known to thee have a better warrant for what we do ave maria be we thankful and as if in defiance of his companion's scruples he concluded a short latin grace with a long draught from the leathern bottle that too you call a part of your liberty said the saracen and as you feed like the brutes so you degrade yourself to the bestial condition by drinking a poisonous liqueur which even they refuse no foolish saracen replied the christian without hesitation that thou blasphemies the gifts of god even with the blasphemy of thy father ishmael the juice of the grape is given to him that will use it wisely as that which cheers the heart of man after toil refreshes him in sickness and comforts him in sorrow he who so enjoyeth it may thank god for his wine-cup as for his daily bread and he who abuseth the gift of heaven is not a greater fall in his intoxication than thou in thine abstinence the keen eye of the saracen kindled at this sarcasm and his hand sought the hilt of his poignard it was but a momentary thought however and died away in the reconciliation of the power

Starting point is 01:06:54 champion with whom he had to deal, and the desperate grapple, the impression of which still throbbed in his limbs and veins, and he contented himself with pursuing this contest and colloquy, as more convenient for the time. Thy words, he said, O Nazarene, might create anger, did not thy ignorance raise compassion? Seest thou not, O thou more blind than any who asks arms at the door of the mosque, that the liberty thou dost boast of is restrained even in that which is dearest to man's happiness and to his household and that thy law if thou dost practise it binds thee in marriage to one single mate be she sick or healthy be she fruitful or barren bring she comfort and joy or clamour and strife to thy table and to thy bed this nazarene i do indeed call slavery whereas to the faithful hath the prophet assigned upon earth the patriarchal privileges of abraham our father and of solomon the wisest of mankind having given us here a succession of beauty at our pleasure and beyond the grave the black-eyed horace of paradise now by his name that i most reverence in heaven said the christian and by hers who my most worship on earth thou art but blinded and a bewildered infidel that diamond signet which thou wearest on their finger thou holdest it doubtless as of inestimable value

Starting point is 01:08:25 belsaura and baghdad cannot show the like replied the saracen but what avails it to our purpose much replied the frank as thou shalt thyself confess take my war-ax and dash the stone into twenty shivers would each fragment be as valuable as the original gem or would they all collected bear the tenth part of its estimation that is a child's question answered the saracen the fragments of such a stone would not equal the entire jewel in the degree of hundreds to one saracen replied the christian warrior the love which a true knight binds on one only fair and faithful is the gem entire the affection thou flingest among thy enslaved wives and half-wetted slaves is worthless comparatively as the sparkling shivers of the broken diamond now by the holy cabah said the emir thou art a madman who hugs his chain of iron as if it were of gold look more closely this ring of mine would lose half its beauty were it not the signet encircled and encased with these lesser brilliance which grace it and set it off the central diamond is man firm and entire his value depending on himself alone and this circle of lesser jewels are women borrowing his luster which he deals out to them as best suits his pleasure or his convenience take the central stone from the signet and the diamond itself remains as valuable as ever while the lesser gems are comparatively of little value and this is the true reading of thy parable for what saith the poet it is the favour of man which giveth beauty and comeliness to women as the stream glitters no longer when the sun seeth to shine saracen replied the crusader thou speak as like one who never saw a woman worthy the efferves the effer

Starting point is 01:10:27 of a soldier believe me couldst thou look upon those of europe to whom after heaven we of the norder of knighthood for our felity and devotion thou wouldst loat for ever the poor sensual slaves who form thy harim the beauty of our fair ones gives point to our spears and edge to our swords their words are our law and as soon will a lamp shed lustre when unkindled as a knight distinguish himself by feet of arms having no mistress of his affection i have heard of this frenzy among the warriors of the west said the emir and have ever accounted it one of the accompanying symptoms of that insanity which brings you hither to obtain possession of an empty sepulchre but yet methinks so highly of the franks whom i have met with extolled the beauty of their women i could well be contented to behold with mine own eyes those charms which can transform such brave warriors into the tools of their pleasure said the knight if i were not on a pilgrimage to the holy sepulchre it should be my pride to conduct you on assurance of safety to the camp of richard of england than whom none knows better how to do honour to a noble foe and though i be poor and unattended yet have i interest as a secure for thee or any such as thou seemest not safety only but respect and esteem there should as thou see several of the fairest beauties of france and britain form a small circle the brilliancy of which exceeds ten thousandfold the lustre of mines of diamonds such as thine now by the corner-stone of the cabar said the saracen i will accept thy invitation as freely as it is given if thou wilt postpone thy present intent and credit me brave nazarene it were better for thyself to turn back thy horse's head towards the camp of thy people

Starting point is 01:12:24 people for to travel towards jerusalem without a passport is but a willful casting away of thy life i have a pass answered the knight producing a parchment under saladine's hand and signet the saracen bent his head to the dust as he recognized the seal and handwriting of the renowned sultan of egypt and syria and having kissed the paper with profound respect he pressed it to his forehead then returned it to the christian saying rash frank thou hast sinned against thine own blood and mine for not shown this to me when we met you came with a levelled spear said the knight had a troop of saracen so assailed me it might have stood with my honour to have shown the sultan's pass but never to one man and yet one man said the saracen haughtily was enough to interrupt your journey true brave muslim replied the christian but there are few such as thou art such falcons fly not in flocks or if they do they pounce not in numbers upon one thou dost us but justice said the saracen evidently gratified by the compliment as he had been touched by the implied scorn of the european's previous boast from us thou shouldst have had no wrong but well it was for me that i failed to slay thee with the safeguard of the king of kings upon thy person certain it were that the cord or the sabre had justly avenged such guilt i am glad to hear that its influence shall be availing to me said the knight for i have heard that the road is infested with robber tribes who regard nothing in comparison of an opportunity of plunder the truth has been told to thee brave christian said the saracen but i swear to thee by the turban of the prophet that should as thou must carry in any hunt of such villains i will myself undertake thy revenge with five thousand horse

Starting point is 01:14:29 i will slay every man of them and send their women to such distant captivity that the name of their tribe shall never again be heard within five hundred miles of damascus i will so insult the foundations of their village and there shall never live thing dwell there even from that time forward i had rather the trouble which you designed for yourself were in revenge of some other more important person than of me noble emir replied the knight but my vow is recorded in heaven for good or for evil and i must be indebted to you for pointing me out the way to my resting-place for this evening that said the saracen must be under the black covering of my father's tent this night answered the christian i must pass in prayer and patience with the holy man theodoric of ingadi who dwells amongst these worlds and spends his life in the service of god i will at least see you safe thither said the saracen that would be a pleasant convoy for me said the christian yet might endanger the future security of the good father for the cruel hand of your people has been read with the blood of the servants of the lord and therefore do we come hither in plate and mail with sword and lord with sword and lest we come hither in plait and mail with sword and lance to open the road to the holy sepulchre and protect the chosen saints and anchorites who yet dwell in this land of promise and of miracle nazarene said the muslim in this the greeks and syrians have much belied us seeing we do but after the word of abu becca al-wakil the successor of the prophet and after him the first commander of true believers go forth he said jesid ben sophianne when he sent that renowned general to take syria from the infidels quit yourself like men in battle but slay neither the age the infirm the women nor the children waste not the land neither destroy corn and fruit-trees they are the gifts of allah

Starting point is 01:16:37 keep faith when you have made any convent even if it be to your own harm if ye find holy men laboring with their hands and serving god in the desert hurt them not neither destroy their dwellings but when you find them with shaven crowns they are of the synagogue of satan smite with the sabre slay seize not till they become believers or tributaries as the caliph companion of the prophet hath told us so have we done and those whom our justice has smitten are but the priests of satan but unto the good men who without stirring up nation against nation worship sincerely in the faith of issaar ben mariam we are a shadow and a shield and such being he whom you seek even though the light of the prophet hath not reached him from me he will have only love favour and regard this anchorite whom i would now visit said the warlike pilgrim is i have heard no priest but were he of that anointed and sacred order i would prove with my good lance against pynum and infidel let us not defy each other brother interrupted the saracen we shall find either of us enough of franks or of muslim on whom to exercise both sword and lance this theodoric is protected both by turk and arab and though one of strange conditions at intervals yet on the whole he bears himself so well as the follower of his own prophet that he merits the protection of him who has sent now by our lady saracen exclaimed the christian if thou darest name in the same breath the camel-driver of mecca with an electrical shock of passion thrilled through the form of the emir

Starting point is 01:18:29 but it was only momentary and the calmness of his reply had both dignity and reason in it when he said slander not him who thou knowest not the rather that we venerate the founder of thy religion while we condemn the doctrine which your priest has spun from it i will myself guide thee to the cavern of the hermit which methinks without my help thou wouldest find it a hard matter to reach and on the way let us leave to mullahs and to monks to dispute about the divinity of our faith and speak on themes which belong to youthful warriors upon battles upon beautiful women upon sharp swords and upon bright armour This is the Libravox recording. All Libravox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Libravox.org. According by Lizzie Driver The Talisman by Sir Walter Scott Chapter 3 Part 1 The Warriors arose from their place of brief rest and simple refreshment

Starting point is 01:19:51 and cautiously aided each other while they carefully replaced and adjusted, the harness from which they had relieved, for the time, their trusty steeds. Each seemed familiar with an employment which at that time was a part of necessary, and indeed of indispensable duty. Each also seemed to possess, as far as the difference betwixt the animal and rational species admitted, the confidence and attention of the horse, which was the constant companion of his travels and his warfare. With the Saracen, this familiar intimacy was a part of his early habits. For, in the tents of the eastern military tribes, the horse of the soldier ranks next to,

Starting point is 01:20:35 and almost equal in importance with his wife and his family. And with the European warrior, circumstances, and indeed necessity, rendered his war-horse scarcely less than his brother in arms. The steeds, therefore, suffered themselves quietly to be taken from their food and liberty, and neighed and sniffed fondly around their masters, while they were adjusting their accoutrements for further travel and additional toil. And each warrior, as he prosecuted his own task, or assisted with courtesy his companion, looked with observant curiosity at the equipments of his fellow-traveller, and noted particularly what struck him as peculiar in the fashion in which he arranged his riding accoutrements.

Starting point is 01:21:19 ere they remounted to resume their journey the christian knight again moistened his lips and dipped his hands in the living fountain and said to his pagan associate of the journey i would i knew the name of this delicious fountain that i might hold in it my grateful remembrance for never did water slake more deliciously a more oppressive thirst than i have this day experienced it is called in the arabic language answered the saracen by a name which signifies the diamond of the desert and well it is so named replied the christian my native valley hath a thousand springs but not to one of them shall i attach hereafter such precious recolation as to this solitary fount, which bestows its liquid treasures where they are not only delightful, but nearly indispensable. You say truth, said the Saracen, for the curse is still on yonder sea of death, and neither man nor be strength of its waves, nor of the river which feeds without filling it, until this inosbitable desert be passed. They mounted and pursued their journey across the sandy waste. the ardour of noon was now past and a light breeze somewhat alleviated the terrors of the desert though not without bearing on its wings an impalpable dust

Starting point is 01:22:42 which the saracenital heeded though his heavily-armoured companion felt it as such an annoyance the tea hung his iron casket his saddle-bow and substituted the light riding-cap termed in the language of the time a mortier from its resemblance in shape to an ordinary mortar they rode together for some time in silence the saracen perform in the part of director and guide of the journey which he did by observing minute marks and bearings in the distant rocks to a ridge of which they were gradually approaching for a little time he seemed absorbed in the task as a pilot were navigating a vessel through a difficult channel but they had not proceeded half a league when he seemed secure of his route and disposed with even more frankness than was usual to his nation to enter into conversation you have asked the name he said of a mute fountain which hath the semblance but not the reality of a living thing let me be pardon to ask the name of the companion with whom i have this day encountered both in danger and repose and which i cannot fancy unknown even here among the deserts of palestine it is not yet worth publishing said the christian now however that among the soldiers of the cross i am called kenneth kenneth of the couching leopard at home i have other titles but they would sound harsh in an eastern ear brave saracen let me ask which of the tribes of arabia claims your descent and by what name you are known sir kenneth said the moslem i joy that your name is such as my lips can easily utter for me i am no arab yet derive my descent from a line the less wild nor less warlike. No, Sir Knight of the Leopard, the Tymesherkov, the line of the mountain,

Starting point is 01:24:39 and that Kurdistan, from which I derive my descent, holds no family more noble than that of Seljuk. I have heard, answered the Christian, that your great Saldan claims his blood from the same source. Thanks to the prophet that hath so far honoured our mountains as descend from their bosom, him whose word is victory, answered the pine-yam. i am but as a worm before the king of egypt and syria and yet in my own land something my name may avail stranger with how many men didst thou come on this warfare "'By my faith,' said Sir Kenneth, with aid of friends and kinsmen, "'I was hardly pinched to furnish forth ten well-appointed lances, "'with maybe some fifty more men, archers and violets included.

Starting point is 01:25:29 "'Some have deserted my unlucky pennon, some have fallen in battle, "'several have died a disease, "'and one trusty armour-bearer, for whose life I am now doing my pilgrimage, "'lies on the bed of sickness.' "'Christian,' said Chertie. here i have five arrows in my quiver each feathered from the wing of an eagle when i send one of them to my tents a thousand warriors mounted on horseback when i send another an equal force will arise for the five i can command five thousand men and if i send my bow ten thousand mounted riders will shake the desert and with thy fifty followers thou hast come to invade a land in which i am one of the meanest now by the rude saracen retorted the western warrior thou shouldst know ere thy vault is thyself that one steel glove can crush a whole handful of hornets

Starting point is 01:26:25 ay but first it must enclose them within its grasp said the saracen with a smile which might have endangered their new alliance had he not changed the subject by adding and his bravery so much esteemed among the christian princes that thou thus void of means and of men canst offer as thou didst of late to be my protector and security in the camp of thy brethren no saracen said the christian such is thy style that the name of a knight and the blood of a gentleman entitle him to a place on the same rank with the sovereigns even of the first degree insofar as regards all with regal authority and dominion were richard of england himself to wound the honour of a knight as poor as i am he could not by the laws of chivalry deny him the combat methinks i should like to look upon so strange a scene said the emir in which a leathern belt and a pair of spurs put the poorest on a level with the most powerful you must add free blood and a fearless heart said the christian then perhaps you will not have spoken untrually of the dignity of knighthood and mix you as boldly among the females of your chiefs and leaders asked the saracen god forbid said the knight of the leopard that the poorest knight in christiandom should not be free in all honourable service to devote his hand and sword the fame of his actions and the fixed devotion of his heart to the first of his heart to the first knight's hand and the first of his heart to the first of his own to the fairest princess who ever wore coronet on her brow but a little while since said the saracen and you described love as the highest treasure of the heart thine hath undoubtedly been high and nobly bestowed stranger answered the christian blushing deeply as he spoke we tell not rashly where it is we have bestowed our choice's treasures it is enough for thee to know that as thou sayest my love is high and you sayest my love is high

Starting point is 01:28:33 highly and nobly bestowed, most highly, most nobly. But if thou wouldst hear of love and broken lances, venture thyself, as thou sayest, to the camp of the crusaders, and thou wilt find excuse for thine ears, and if thou wilt, for thy hands too. The eastern warrior, rising himself in his stirrups, and shaken aloft his lance, replied, "'Hardly, I fear, shall I find one with a crossed shoulder, who will exchange with me the cast of the gerard. I will not promise for that, replied the knight, though there be in the camp some certain Spaniards, who have right good skill in your eastern game of hurling the javelin.

Starting point is 01:29:18 Dogs and sons of dogs, ejaculated the Saracen. What have these Spaniards to do, to come hither to combat the true believers, who, in their own land, are their lords and taskmasters? With them I would mix in no warlike parts. pastime. Let not the knights of Leon or Asturius hear you speak thus of them, said the knight of the leopard, but, added he, smiling at the recollection of the morning's combat, if, instead of a reed, you're inclined to stand the cast of a battle-axe, there are enough of Western warriors who would gratify your longing. By the beard of my father, sir, with an approach to laughter,

Starting point is 01:30:00 the game is too rough for mere sport. I will never. never shun them in battle but my head pressing his hand to his brow will not for a while permit me to seek them in sport i would that you saw the axe of king richard answered the western warrior to which that which hangs at my saddle-bow weighs but as a feather we hear much of that island sovereign said the saracen art thou one of his subjects one of his followers i am for this expedition answered the knight and honoured in the service but not borne his subject although a native in the island in which he reigns how mean you said the eastern soldier have you then two kings in one poor island as thou sayest said the scott for such was sir kenneth by birth it is even so and yet although the inhabitants of the two extremities of that island are engaged in frequent war the country can as thou seest furnish forth such a body of men at arms as may go far to shake the unholy hold which your master hath laid on the cities of zion by the beard of saladan nazarene but that it is a thoughtless and boyish folly i could laugh at the simplicity of your great sultan who comes hitherode to make conquests of desert and rocks and dispute the possession of them which those who have tenfold numbers at command while he leaves a part of his narrow islet in which he was born a sovereign to the dominion of another sceptre than his

Starting point is 01:31:39 surely sir kenneth you and the other good men of your country should have submitted yourselves to the dominion of this king richard ere you left your native land divided against itself to set forth in this expedition hasty and fierce was kenneth's answer no by the bright light of heaven if the king of england had not set forth to the crusade till he was sovereign of scotland the crescent might for me and all true-hearted scots glimmer for ever on the walls of scion thus far he had proceeded when recollecting himself he muttered mea culpa what have i a soldier of the cross to do with recollection of war between christian nations the rapid expression of feeling corrected by the dictates of duty did not escape the moslem who if he did not entirely understand all which it conveyed sore enough to convince him with the assurance that christians as well as moslemma had private feelings of personal peak, and national quarrels which were not entirely reconcilable. But the Saracens were a race, polished perhaps, to the utmost extent which their religion permitted, and particularly capable of entertaining high ideas of courtesy and politeness. And such sentiments prevented his take in any notice of the inconsistency of Sir Kenneth's feelings

Starting point is 01:33:02 in the opposite character of a Scot and a crusader. Meanwhile, as they advanced, the scene. began to change around them. They were now turning to the eastward, and had reached the range of steep and barren hills, which binds in that quarter the naked plain, and varies the surface of the country, without changing its sterile character.

Starting point is 01:33:26 Sharp, rocky eminences began to rise around them, and in a short time, deep delclivities and descents, both formidable in height and difficult from the narrowness of the path, offered to the traveller's obstacles of the road, a different kind from those with which they had recently contended dark caverns and chasms amongst the rocks those grottoes so often alluded to in the scripture yawned fearfully on either side as they proceeded and their scottish knight was informed by the emir that these were often the refuge of beasts of prey or of men still more ferocious who driven to desperation by the constant war and the oppression exercised by the soldiery as well of the christi cross as of the crescent, had become robbers, and spared neither rank nor religion, neither sex

Starting point is 01:34:17 nor age, in their depredations. The Scottish knight listened with indifference to the accounts of ravages committed by wild beasts or wicked men, secure as he felt himself in his own valour and personal strength, that he was struck with mysterious dread when he recollected that he was now in the awful wildness of the forty days fast. And the scene as the of the actual personal temptation, wherewith the evil principle was permitted to assail the son of man. He withdrew his attention gradually from the light and worldly conversation of the infidel warrior beside him, and, however acceptable his gay and gallant bravery would have rendered him as a companion elsewhere. Sir Kenneth felt as if, in these wildernesses, the waste and dry place in which the foul spirits were wont to wonder,

Starting point is 01:35:09 when expelled the mortals whose forms they possessed, a barefooted friar would have been a better associate than the gay but unbelieving pineum these feelings embarrassed him the rather that the saracen spirits appeared to rise with a journey and because the farther he penetrated into the gloomy recesses of the mountains the lighter became his conversation and when he found that unanswered the louder grew his song sir kenneth knew enough of the eastern languages to be assured that he chanted sonnets of love containing all the glowing praises of beauty in which the oriental poets are so fond of luxuriating and which therefore were peculiarly unfit for a serious or devotional strain of thought the feeling best becoming the wilderness of the temptation with inconsistency enough the saracen also sung lays in praise of wine the liquid ruby of the persian poets and his gaiety at length became so unsuitable to the christians knight's contrary train of sentiments as but for the promise of amnety which they had exchanged would most likely have made sir kenneth take measures to change his note as it was the crusader felt as if he had by his side some gay licentious fiend who endeavored to ensnare his soul and endanger his immortal salvation by inspiring loose thoughts of earthly pleasure and thus polluting his devotion at a time when his faith as a christian and his vow as a pilgrim called on him for a serious and penitial state of mind he was thus greatly perplexed and undecided how to act

Starting point is 01:36:56 and it was in a tone of hasty displeasure that at length breaking silence he interrupted the lay of the celebrated rudpicky in which he prefers the mole on his mistress bosom to all the wealth of boccara and samarkand saracen said the crusader sternly blinded as thou art and plunged amidst the errors of a false law thou should as yet comprehend that there are some places more holy than others and that there are some scenes also in which the evil one have more than ordinary powers over sinful mortals. I will not tell thee, for what awful reasons this place, these rocks, these caverns with their gloomy arches, leading us word to the central abyss, are held in the especial haunt of Satan and his angels. It is enough that I have been long warned to beware of this place by wise and holy men, to whom the qualities of the unholy region are well known.

Starting point is 01:37:51 Wherefore, Saracen, forbear thy foolish and ill-timed levity, and turn thy thoughts to things more suited to the spot although alas for thee thy best prayers are better blasphemy and sin the saracen listened with some surprise and then replied with good humour and gaiety only so far repressed as courtesy required good sir kenneth methinks you deal unequally by your companion all rale's ceremony is but indifferently taught amongst your western tribes i took no offence when i saw you gorge hogs flesh and drink wine and permitted you to enjoy a treat which you called your christian liberty only pitying in my heart your full pastimes wherefore then shouldst thou take scandal because i cheer to the best of my power a gloomy road with a cheerful verse what sayeth the poet song is like the jews of heaven on the bosom of the desert it calls the path of the traveller friend saracen said the christian i blame not the love of minstrelsy and of gay science albeit we yield the path of the traveller friend saracen said the christian i blame not the love of minstrelsy and of gay science albeit we yield unto it even too much room in our thoughts when they should be bent on better things. But prayers and holy psalms are better fitting than lace of love or of wine-cups, when men walk in this valley of the shadow of death, full of fiends and demons,

Starting point is 01:39:12 whom the prayers of holy men have driven forth from the haunts of humanity, to wander amidst scenes as a curse as themselves. Speak not thus of the genii, Christian, answered the Saracen, for no, thou speak as to one, whose line and nation draw, their origin from the immortal race which your sect fear and blaspheme i well thought answered the crusader that your blinded race had their descent from the foul fiend without whose age you would never have been able to maintain this blessed land of palestine against so many valiant soldiers of god i speak not thus of thee in particular saracen but generally of thy people and religion strange it is to me however not that you should have the descent from the evil one but that you should boast of it from whom should the bravest boast of descending save him from him that is bravest said the saracen from whom should the proudest trace their lines so well as from the dark spirit which would rather fall headlong by force than bend the knee by his wills eblis may be hated stranger but he must be feared and such as eblis are his descendants of kurdistan tales of magic and of necromancy were the learning of the period and sir kenneth heard his companion's confession of diabolical descent without any disbelief and without much wonder

Starting point is 01:40:40 yet not without a secret shudder at finding himself in his fearful place in the company of one who avowed himself to belong to such a lineage naturally insusceptible however of fear he crossed himself and stoutly demanded of the saracen an account of the pedigree with which he had boasted the latter readily complied no brave stranger said he that when the cruel is hook one of the descendants of gameschid held the throne of persia he formed a league with the powers of darkness, amidst the secret vaults of Ishtakar, faults which the hands of the elementary spirits had hewn out of the living rock long before Adam himself had in existence. Here he fed, with daily oblations of human blood, two devouring serpents, which had become, according to the poets, a part of himself, and to disdain whom he levied attacks of daily human sacrifices, till the exhausted patience of his subjects caused some to rise up the simitimate.

Starting point is 01:41:43 of resistance, like the valiant blacksmith and the victorious ferrodown, by whom the tyrant was at length defroned, and imprisoned forever in the dismal cabins of the mountains of Demivand. But, ere the deliverance had taken place, and whilst the power of the bloodthirsty tyrant was at its height, the band of ravening slaves, whom he had sent forth to purvey victims for his daily sacrifice, brought to the vaults of the palace of Ishtakar, seven sisters so beautiful, that they seemed seven horace. The seven maidens were the daughters of a sage, who had no treasures, save those beauties and his own wisdom.

Starting point is 01:42:24 The last was not sufficient to foresee this misfortune. The former seemed ineffectual to prevent it. The elder exceeded not a twentieth year, the youngest had scarce attained her thirteenth. And so like were they to each other that they could not have been distinguished but for the difference of height, in which they gradually rose in easy gradation above each other,

Starting point is 01:42:46 like the ascent which leads to the gates of paradise. So lovely were these seven sisters when they stood in the Darkson Vault, disrobed of all clothing save a Simar of white silk, that their charms moved the hearts of those who were not mortal. Thunder muttered, the earth shook. The wall of the vault was rent, and at the casim entered one dress like a hunter, with bow and shaft, and followed by six others his brethren they were tall men and though dark yet comely to behold but their eyes had more the glare of those of the dead than of the light which lids under the eyelids of the living

Starting point is 01:43:25 zenib said the leader of the band and as he spoke he took the eldest sister by the hand and his voice was soft low and melancholy i am cothrobe king of the subterranean world and supreme chief of guinestan i and my brethren are of those who created out of the pure elementary fire disdained even at the command of omnipotence to do homage to a clot of earth because it was called man thou mayest have heard of us as cruel unrelenting and persecuting it is false we are by nature kind and generous only ventful when insulted only cruel when affronted we are true to those who trust us and we have heard the invocations of thy father the sage mithrasp who wisely worships not alone the origin of good but that which is called the source of evil you and your sisters are on the eve of death but let each give to us one hair from your fair tresses in token of fealty and we will carry you many miles from hence to a place of safety where you may bid defiance to zau hook and his ministers the fear of instant death saith the poet is like the rod of the prophet haron which devoured all other rods when transformed into snakes before the king of pharaoh and the daughters of the persian sage were less apt than others to be afraid of the addresses of a spirit they gave the tribute which cothrobe demanded and in an instant the sisters were transported to an enchanted castle on the mountains of taggart in kurdistan and were never seen again by immortal eye. But in the process of time, seven youths, distinguished in the war and in the chase,

Starting point is 01:45:14 appeared in the environs of the castle of the demons. They were darker, taller, fiercer, and more resolute than any of the scattered inhabitants of the valleys of Kurdistan, and they took to themselves wives and became fathers of the seven tribes of the Kurdmen, whose valor is known throughout the universe. The Christianite heard with wonder the wild, tale, of which Kurdistan still possesses the traces. And after a moment's thought replied, "'Ferily, Sir Knight, you have spoken well. Your genealogy may be dreaded and hated, but it cannot be contemned. Neither do I any longer wonder at your obstinacy in a false faith. Since doubtless it is part of the fiendish disposition which hath descended from your ancestors,

Starting point is 01:46:02 those infernal huntsmen, as you've described them, to love falsehood rather than truth. and i no longer marveled that your spirits become high and exalted and vent themselves in verse and in tunes when you approach to the places encumbered by the haunting of evil spirits which must excite in you that joyous feeling which others experience when approaching the land of their human ancestry by my father's beard i think thou hast the right said the saracen rather amused than offended by the freedom with which the christian had uttered his reflections for though the prophet blessed be his name hath sown amongst us the seed of a better faith than our ancestors learned in the ghostly halls of tugrat yet we are not willing like other moslema to pass hasty doom on the lofty and powerful elementary spirits from whom we claim our origin these genii according to our belief and hope are not altogether reprobate but are still in the way of probation and may hereafter be punished or rewarded leave we this to the molars and the amams enough that with us the reverence for these spirits is not altogether effaced by what we have learned from the koran and that many of us still sing in memorial of our father's more ancient faith such verses as these so saying he proceeded to chant verses very ancient in the language and structure which some of thought derive their source from the worshippers of our imans the evil principle harryman dark harryman whom iraq still holds origin of woe and ill when bending at thy shrine we view the world with troubled eye where sea we neath the extended sky an empire marching thine

Starting point is 01:47:54 if the benign a power can yield a fountain in the desert field where weary pilgrims drink thine are the waves that lash the rock thine the tornadoes deadly shock where countless navy sink or if you bid the soil dispense balsams to cheer the sink incense how few can they deliver from lingering pains or pang in tents red fever spotted pestilence the arrows of thy quiver chief in man's bosom sits thy sway and frequent while in words we pray before another throne whate'er a species form be there the secret meaning of the prayer is araman thine own say has thou feeling sense and form thunder thy voice thy garments storm as eastern mage i say with sentient soul of hate and wrath and wings to sweep thy deadly path and fangs to tear thy prey or art thou mixed in nature's source an ever-operating force converting good to ill an evil principle innate contending with our better fate and oh victorious still how'er it be dispute is vain on all without thou holdest thy reign nor less on all within each mortal passion's fierce career love hate ambition joy and fear thou godest into sin when ere a sunny gleam appears to brighten up our veil of tears thou ard not distant far mid such brief solace of our lives thou wettest our very banquet nigh to tools of death and war thus from the moment of our birth long as we linger on the earth thou rulest the fate of men

Starting point is 01:49:49 thine are the pangs of lice last hour and who dare answer is thy power dark spirit ended then open bracket the worthy and learned clergyman by whom this species of him has been translated desires that for a fear of misconception we should warn the reader to recollect that it is composed by a heathen to whom the real causes of moral and physical evil are unknown and to view their predominance in the system of the universe as all must view that appalling fact who have not the benefit of the christian revelation on our own part we beg to add that we understand the style of the translator is more paraphrasic than can be approved by those who are acquainted with the singular curious original the translator seems to have despaired of rendering into english verse the flights of oriental poetry and possibly like many learned and ingenious men finding it impossible to discover the sense of the original close brackets these verses may perhaps have been the not unnatural effusion of some half-enlightened philosopher who in the fabled deity orimans saw but the prevalence of moral and physical evil but in the ears of sir kenneth the leopard they had a different effect and sung as they were by what they were by one who had just boasted himself a descendant of demons, sounded very like an address of worship to the archfiend himself. He weighed within himself whether, on hearing such blasphemy in the very

Starting point is 01:51:27 desert where Satan had stood rebuked, for demanding homage, taken an abrupt leave of the Saracen was sufficient to testify his abhorrence, or whether he was not rather constrained by his vow as a crusader to defy the infidel to combat on the spot, and leave him food for the beast. of the wilderness when his attention was caught by an unexpected apparition end of chapter three part one chapter three part two of the talisman this is the libravox recording well librivox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit libravox.org recording by lizzie driver the talisman by sir walter scott chapter three part the light was now verging low yet served the night still to discern that they too were no longer alone in the desert but were closely watched by a figure of great height and very thin

Starting point is 01:52:38 which skipped her rocks and bushes with so much agility as added to the wild and her suit appearance of the individual reminded him of the fawns and sylvan's whose images he had seen in the ancient temples of rome as the single-hearted scottishman had never for a moment doubted these gods of the ancient gentiles to be actually devils so he now hesitated not to believe that the blasphemous hymn of the saracen had raised up an infernal spirit but what wrecks it said stout sir kenneth to himself down with the fiend and his worshippers he did not however think it necessary to give the same warning of defiance to two enemies as he would unquestion have afforded to one. His hand was upon his mace, and perhaps the unwary Saracen would have paid for his Persian poetry by having his brains dashed out on the spot, without any reason assigned for it.

Starting point is 01:53:38 But the Scottish knight was spared from committing what would have been a sore blot in his shield of arms. The apparition, on which his eyes had been fixed for some time, had at first appeared to dog their path by concealing itself behind rocks and shrubs. using those advantages of the ground with greater dress, and surmounting its irregularities with surprising agility. At length, just as the Saracen paused on his song, the figure, which was that of a tall man clothed in goat-skins,

Starting point is 01:54:10 sprung up into the midst of the path, and seized a reign of the Saracen's bridle on either hand, confronting thus and bearing back the noble horse, which, unable to endure the manner in which this sudden, an assailant pressed the long-armed bit and the severe curb, which, according to the eastern fashion, was a solid ring of iron, reared upright and finally fell backwards on his master, who, however, avoided the peril of the fall by lightly throwing himself to one side. The assailant then shifted his grasp from the bridle of the horse to the throat of the rider,

Starting point is 01:54:47 flung himself above the struggling Saracen, and, despite of his youth and activity, kept him undermost, breathing his long arms above those of his prisoner, who called out angrily, and yet half-loughing at the same time. Hamko, fool, unloose me, this passes thy privilege, unloose me, or I will use my dagger. Thy dagger, infidel dog, said the figure in the goatskins, hold it in thy grip if thy canst. But in an instant he wrenched the Saracen's weapon out of its owner's hand, and brandished it over his head. Help, Nazarene, cried Sherkoff, now seriously alarmed.

Starting point is 01:55:29 Help, or the hammocker will slay me, slay thee, replied the dweller of the desert, and well thou hadst thou merited death, for singing thy blasphemous hymns, not only to the praise of thy false prophet, who is the foul fiend's harbringer, but to that of the author of evil himself. The Christian knight had hitherto looked on as one stupefied.

Starting point is 01:55:52 So strangely had this, as recount her contradicted in its progress and event, all that he had previously conjectured. He felt, however, at length, that it touched his honour to interfere in behalf of his discomfitage companion, and therefore addressed himself to the victorious figure in the goatskins. Whosoever thou art, he said, and whether of good or of evil, know that I am sworn from the time to be true companion to the Saracen whom thou holdest under thee. therefore I pray thee to let him arise, else I will do battle with thee in his behalf. And a proper quarrel it were, answered the Hamako, for a crusader to do battle in,

Starting point is 01:56:37 for the sake of an unbaptised dog, to combat one of his own holy faith, art thou come forth to the wilderness to fight for the crescent against the cross? A goodly soldier of God art thou to listen to those who sing the praises of Satan. yet while he spoke thus he arose himself and suffering the saracen to rise also returned to him as kangare or poignard thus seest to what a point of peril thy presumption hath brought thee continued he of the goatskins now addressing shirkoff and by what weak means thy practice skill and boasted agility can be foiled when such is heaven's pleasure wherefore beware o ilterim for know that were there not a twinkle in the star of thy nativity which promises for thee something that is good and gracious in heaven's good time we two had not parted till i had torn asunder the throat which so lately trilled forth blasphemies hamico said the saracen without any appearance of resenting the violent language and yet more violent assault to which he had been subjected i pray thee good hamico to beware how thou dost again urge thy privilege overfart for though as a good moslem i respect those whom heaven hath deprived of ordinary reason in order to endow them with the spirit of prophecy yet i like not other man's hands on the bridle of my horse neither upon my own person

Starting point is 01:58:05 speak therefore what thou wilt secure of any resentment from me but gather so much sense as to apprehend that if thou shalt again prefer me any violence i will strike thy shagged head from thy meaguer shoulders and to thee friend kenneth he added as he remounted his steed i must need say that in a companion through the desert i love friendly deeds better than fair words of the last there has given me enough but it is he been better to have aided me more speedily in my struggle with this hammocko who had wellnigh taken my life in his frenzy by my faith said the knight i did somewhat fail was somewhat tardy in rendering the instant help but the strangeness of the assailant the suddenness of the scene it was as if thy wild and wicked lay had raised the devil among us and such was my confusion that two or three minutes elapsed ere i could take my weapon thou art but a cold and considerate friend said the saracen and had the hammock been one grain more frenatic thy companion had been slain by thy side to thy eternal dishonour without thy stirring a finger in his aid although thou sight is by mounted and in arms by my word saracen said the christian if thou wilt have it in plain terms i thought that strange figure was the devil and being of thy lineage i knew not what family secret you might be communicating to each other as you lay lovelingly rolling together on the sand i give is no answer brother kenneth said the saracen for no that had my assailant been in very deed the prince of darkness thou wert found not the less to enter into combat with him in thy comrades behalf know also that whatever there may be of foul or a fiendish about the hammockoe belongs more to your lineage than to mine this hammock being in truth the anchorite whom thou art come hither to visit

Starting point is 02:00:09 this said sir kenneth looking at the athletic yet wasted figure before him this thou mockest saracen this cannot be the venerable theodric ask himself if that will not believe me answered shirkoff and ere the words had left his mouth the hermit gave evidence in his own behalf i am theodric of ingadi he said i am the walker of the desert i am friend of the cross and flair of all infidels heretics and devil-worshippers avoid ye avoid ye down with my hound to magaunt and all their adherents so saying he pulls from under his shaggy garment, a sort of flail or jointed club, bound with iron, which he brandished round his head with singular dexterity. "'Thus is thy saint,' said the Saracen, laughing for the first time, at the unmitigated astonishment with which Sir Kenneth looked on the wild gestures, and heard the wayward mutterings of Theododoric, who, after swinging his flail in every direction, apparently quite recklessly,

Starting point is 02:01:18 whether it encountered the head of either of his companions, finally showed his own strength, and the soundness of the weapon, by striking into fragments a large stone which lay near him. This is a madman, said Sir Kenneth. Not the worst saint, returned the Muslim, speaking according to the well-known Eastern belief,

Starting point is 02:01:39 that madmen are under the influence of immediate inspiration. No, Christian, that when one eye is extinguished, the other becomes more keen, when one hand is cut off the other becomes more powerful so when our reason in human things is disturbed or destroyed our view heavenward becomes more acute and perfect here the voice of the saracen was drowned in that of the hermit who began to hallo aloud in a wild chanting tone i am theododric of ingadi i am the torch-brand of the desert i am the flail of the infidels the lion and the leopard shall be my comrades and draw nigh to myself for shelter neither shall the goat be afraid of their fangs i am the torch and the lantern kairi elison he closed his song by a short race and ended that again by three forward bounds which would have done him great credit in a gymnastic academy but became his character of hermit so indifferently that the scottish knight was altogether confounded and bewildered the saracens seemed to understand him better you see he said that he expects us to follow him to his cell which indeed is our only place of refuge for the knight you are the leopard from the portrait of your shield i am the lion as my name imports and by the goat alluding to his garb of goat skins he means himself

Starting point is 02:03:07 we must keep him in sight however for he is as fleet as a dromedary in fact the task was a difficult one for though the reverend guide stopped from time to time and waved his hand as if to encourage them to come on yet well acquainted with all the winding dwells and passes of the desert and gifted with uncommon activity which perhaps an unsettled state of mind kept in constant exercise he led the knights through chasms and along footpaths and along footpaths where even the light-armed saracen with his well-trained barb was in considerable risk and where the iron-sheathed european and his overburdened steed found themselves in such imminent peril as the rider would have gladly exchanged for the dangers of general action glad he was when at length after this wild race he beheld the holy man who had led it standing in front of a cavern with a large torch in his hand composed of a piece of wood dipped in butamine which cast a broad and flickering light, and emitted a strong sulphurous smell. Undeterred by the stifling vapour, the knight threw himself from his horse and entered the cavern, which afforded small appearance of accommodation. The cell was divided into two parts, and the outward of which were an altar of stone and a crucifix made of reeds.

Starting point is 02:04:33 This served the anchorite for his chapel. On one side of this outward cave, the Christian. year night, though not without scruple, arising from religious reverence to the objects around, fastened up his horse, and arranged him for the knight in imitation of the Saracen, who gave him to understand that such was the custom of the place. The hermit, meanwhile, was busied putting his inner apartment in order to receive his guests, and there they soon joined him. At the bottom of the outer cave, a small aperture, closed with a door of ruffer,

Starting point is 02:05:08 plank led into the sleeping apartment of the hermit who was more commodious the floor had been brought to a rough level by the labour of the inhabitant and then strewed with white sand which he daily sprinkled with water from a small fountain which bubbled out of the rock in one corner affording in that stifling climate refreshment alike to the ear and the taste mattresses wrought of twisted flags lay by the side of the cell the sides, like the floor, had been roughly brought to shape, and several herbs and flowers were hung around them. The two wax and torches, which the hermit lighted, gave a cheerful air to the place, which was rendered agreeable by its fragrance and coolness. There were implements of labor in one corner of the apartment. In another was a niche for a rude statue of the Virgin. A table and two chairs showed that they must be the handiwork of the anchorite. being different in their form from oriental accommodations the former was covered not only with reeds and pulse but also with dried flesh which the adodric assiduously placed in such arrangements as should invite the appetite of his guests

Starting point is 02:06:27 this appearance of courtesy though mute and expressed by jesters only seemed to sir kenneth something entirely irreconcilable with his former wild and violent demeanour the movements of the hermit were now become composed, and apparently it was only a sense of religious humiliation, which prevented his features, emaciated as they were by his asture mode of life, from being majestic and noble. He trod his cell as one who seemed born to rule over men, but who had abdicated his empire to become the servant of heaven. Still, it must be a lad that his gigantic sighs, the length of his unshaven locks and beard, and the fire of a deep set of a deep set of his. wild eye were rather attributes of a soldier than a recluse even the saracen seemed to regard the anchorite with some veneration while he was thus employed and he whispered in a low tone to sir kenneth the hammocko is now in his better mind but he will not speak into we have eaten such as his vow it was in silence accordingly that theodric mentioned to the scott to take his place on one of the low chairs while shirk

Starting point is 02:07:42 placed himself after the custom of his nation upon a cushion of mats the hermit then held up both hands as if blessing the refreshment which he had placed before his guests and they proceeded to eat in silence as profound as his own to the saracen this gravity was natural and the christian imitated his taciturnity while he employed his thoughts on the singularity of his own situation and the contrast betwixt the wire furious gesticulations loud cries and fierce actions of theododric when they first met him and the demure solemn decorous assuity with which he now performed the duties of hospitality when their meal was ended the hermit who had not eaten himself a morsel removed the fragments from the table and placed him before the saracen a pitcher of sherbet assigned to the scot a flask of wine drink he said my children they were the first words he had spoken the gifts of god are to be enjoyed when the giver is remembered having said this he retired to the outward cell probably for performance of his devotions and left his guests together in the inner apartment when sir kenneth endeavoured by various questions to draw from sherkov what the mayor knew concerning his host he was interested by more than mere curiosity in these inquiries difficult as it was to reconcile the outrageous demeanour of the recluse at his first appearance with his present humbled and placid behaviour it seemed yet more impossible to think it consistent with the high consideration in which according to what sir kenneth learned this hermit was held by the most enlightened divine to the christian world

Starting point is 02:09:34 theodoric the hermit of engaddy had in that character been the correspondent of popes and councils to whom his letters full of eloquent fervor had described the miseries imposed by the unbelievers upon the latin christians in the holy land in colours scarce inferior to those employed at the council of clermont by the hermit peter when he preached the first crusade to find in a person so reverend and so much revered the first revered the first revered the first revered the first the frantic gestures of a mad fakir induced the christian knight to pause ere he could resolve to communicate to him certain important matters which he had in charge from some of the leaders of the crusade it had been a main object of sir kenneth's pilgrimage attempted by a route so unusual to make such communications but what he had that night seen induced him to pause and reflect ere he proceeded to the execution of his commission from the emir he could not extract much information but the general tenor was as follows that as he had heard the hermit had been once a brave and valiant soldier wise and counsel and fortunate in battle which last he could easily believe from the great strength in agility which he had often seen him displayed that he had appeared at jerusalem in the character not of a pilgrim but in that of one who had devoted himself to dwell for the remainder of his life in the Holy Land. Shortly afterwards he fixed his residence amid the scenes of desolation, where they now found him,

Starting point is 02:11:16 respected by the Latins for his austere devotion, and by the Turks and Arabs on account of the symptoms of insanity which he displayed, and which they ascribed to inspiration. It was from them he had the name of Hamako, which expresses such a character in the Turkish language. Sherkoff himself seemed at a loss how to rank their host. He had been, he said, a wise man, and could often, for many hours, speak lessons of virtue or wisdom,

Starting point is 02:11:45 without the slightest appearance of inaccuracy. At other times he was wild and violent. But never before had he seen him so mischievously disposed as he had that day appeared to be. His rage was chiefly provoked by an affront to his religion. and there was a story of some wandering Arabs who had insulted his worship and defaced his altar, and whom he had on that account

Starting point is 02:12:11 attacked and slain with the short flail, which he carried with him in lieu of all other weapons. This incident had made a great noise, and it was as much the fear of the hermit's iron flail as regard of his character as a hammock, which caused the roving tribes to respect his dwelling and his chapel. his fame had spread so far that saladine had issued particular orders that he should be spared and protected he himself and other moslem lords of rank had visited the cell more than once partly from curiosity partly that they expected from a man so learned as the christian hammaco some insight into the secrets of futurity he had continued the saracen a rutted or a observatory of great height, contrived to view the heavenly bodies, and particularly the planetary

Starting point is 02:13:06 system, by whose movements and influences, as both Christian and Moslin believed, the cause of human events was regulated and might be predicted. This was the substance of the Emir Shurkov's information, and it left Sir Kenneth in doubt whether the character of insanity arose from the occasional excessive fervour of the hermit seal, or whether it was not altogether fictitious. and assumed for the sake of the immunities which it afforded. Yet it seemed that the infidels had carried their complacence towards him to an uncommon length, considering the fanaticisms of the followers of Muhammad in the midst of whom he was living, though the professed enemy of their faith.

Starting point is 02:13:51 He also thought there was more intimacy of acquaintance betwixt the hermit and the Saracen than the words of the latter had induced him to anticipate. and it did not escape him that the former had called the latter by a name different from which he himself had assumed all these considerations authorized caution if not suspicion he determined to observe his host closely and not to be over-hasty and communicated with him on the important charge entrusted to him beware saracen he said methinks our host's imagination wonders as well on the subject of names as upon other matters thy name is sherkov and he called thee but now by another my name when in the tent of my father replied the curdman wasildarem and by this i am still distinguished by many in the field and to soldiers i am known as the line of the mountain being the name my good sword hath won for me but hush the hammocko comes it is to warn us to rest i know his custom none must watch him at his vigils the anchorite accordingly entered and folding his arms on his bosom as he stood before them said with a solemn voice blessed be his name who hath appointed the quiet night to follow the busy day and the calm sleep to refresh the wearied limbs and to compose the troubled spirit both warriors replied amen and arising from the table prepared to betake themselves to the couches which their host indicated by waving his hand as making in reverence to each he again withdrew from the apartment

Starting point is 02:15:38 the knight of the leopard then disarmed himself of his heavy panel plea his saracen companion kindly assisting him to undo his buckler and clasps until he remained in the closed dress of camille's leather which knights and men-at-arms used to wear under their harness the saracen if he admired the strength of his adversary when sheathed in steel was now no less struck with the accuracy of proportion displayed in his nervous and well compacted figure. The knight, on the other hand, as in exchange of courtesy, he assisted the Saracen to disrobe himself of his upper garments, that he might sleep with more convenience, was on his side, at a loss to conceive how such slender proportions and slimness of figure could be reconciled with the vigour he had displayed in personal contest. Each warrior prayed, ere he addressed himself to his place of rest. The Moslem turned towards his keblah, the point to which the prayer of each follower of the prophet was to be addressed,

Starting point is 02:16:45 and murmured his heathen orisons, while the Christian, withdrawing from the contamination of the infidels' neighbourhood, placed his huge, cross-handled sword upright, and kneeling before it is a sign of salvation, told his rosary with a devotion which was enhanced by the recollections of the scenes through which he had passed, and the dangers from which he had been rescued in the course of the day. Both warriors, worn by toil and travel, were soon fast asleep, each on his separate palette.

Starting point is 02:17:18 End of Chapter 3 Part 2 Chapter 4 of the Talisman This is the Librevox recording. All Librevox recordings are in the public domain. For more information ought to volunteer, please visit Librevox.org. Recording by Lizzie Driver The Talisman by Sir Walter Scott. chapter four kenneth the scott was uncertain how long his senses had been lost in profound repose when he was roused to recollection by a sense of oppression on his chest which at first suggested a flirting dream of struggling with a powerful opponent and at length recalled him fully to his senses he was about to demand who was there when opening his eyes he beheld the figure of the anchorite wild and savage looking as we have described him standing by his bedside and pressing his right hand upon his breast while he held a small silver lamp in the other be silent said the hermit as the prostrate knight looked up in surprise

Starting point is 02:18:31 i have that to say to you which yonder infidel was not here these words he spoke in the french language and not in the lingua franca or compound of eastern and european dialects, which had hitherto been used amongst them. Arise, he continued, put on thy mantle, speak not, but tread lightly and follow me. Sir Kenneth arose and took his sword. It needs not, answered the anchorite in a whisper. We are going where spiritual arms avail much, and fleshly weapons are but as the reed and the decayed gourd. The knight deposited his sword by the bedside as before, and on,

Starting point is 02:19:14 armed only with his dagger, from which in this perilous country he never parted, prepared to attend his mysterious host. The hermit then moved slowly forwards, and was followed by the night, still under some uncertainty whether the dark form which glided on before to show him the path was not, in fact, the creation of a disturbed dream. They passed like shadows into the outer apartment, without disturbing the piney mammere, who, who lay still buried in repose. Before the cross and altar in the outward room, a lamp was still burning, a missile was displayed, and on the floor lay a discipline,

Starting point is 02:19:58 or penitial scourge of small cord and wire, the lashes of which were recently stained with blood, a token, no doubt, of the severe penance of the recluse. Here Theodoric kneeled down, and pointed to the knight to take his place beside him upon the sharp flints, which seemed place for the purpose of rendering the posture of reverential devotion as uneasy as possible he read many prayers of the catholic church and chanted in a low but earnest voice three of the penitential psalms these last he intermixed with sighs and tears and convulsive throbs which bore witness how deeply he felt the divine poetry which he recited the scottish knight assisted with profound sincerity at the evening night assisted with profound sincerity at the evening

Starting point is 02:20:49 acts of devotion his opinion of his host beginning in the meantime to be so much changed that he doubted whether from the severity of his penance and the ardor of his prayers he ought not to regard him as a saint and when they arose from the ground he stood with reverence before him as a pupil before an honored master the hermit was on his side silent and abstracted for the space of a few minutes look into yonder recesses my son he said pointing to the farther corner of the cell there thou wilt found a veil bring it hither the knight obeyed and in a small aperture cut out of the wall and secured with the door of wicker he found the veil inquired for when he brought it to the light he discovered that it was torn and soiled in some place with some dark substance the anchorite looked at it with a deep but smothered emotion and ere he could speak to the scottish knight was compelled to vent his feelings in a convulsive groan thou art now about to look upon the richest treasure that the earth possesses he at length said woe is me that my eyes are unworthy to be lifted towards it alas i am but the vile and despise sign which points out to the wearied traveller a harbour of rest and security but must itself remain forever without doors in vain have i fled to the very depths of the rocks and the very bosom of the thirsty desert mine enemy have found me even he whom i have denied has pursued me to my fortress he paused again for a moment and turning to the scottish knight said in a firm a tone of voice you bring me a greeting from richard of england i come from the council of christian princes said the knight but the king of england being indisposed i am not honoured with his

Starting point is 02:22:54 majesty's commands. Your token? demanded the recluse. Sir Kenneth hesitated. Former suspicions and the marks of insanity which the hermit had formerly exhibited rushed suddenly on his thoughts. But how suspect a man whose manners were so saintly? My password, he said at length, is this.

Starting point is 02:23:21 Kings begged of a beggar. It is right, said the hermit, while he bowed. paused. I know you well, but the sentinel upon his post, and mine is an important one, challenged his friend as well as foe. He then moved forward with the lamp, leading the way into the room which they had left. The Saracen lay on his couch still fast asleep. The hermit paused by his side and looked down on him. He sleeps, he said, in darkness and must not be awakened. The attitude of the emir did indeed convey the idea of profound repose. One arm flung across his body as he lay with his face half turned to the wall,

Starting point is 02:24:08 concealed with its long and loose sleeve, the greater part of his face, but the high forehead was yet visible. Its nerves, which, during his waking hours were so uncommonly active, were now motionless, as if the face had been composed of dark marble. and his long silken eyelashes closed over his piercing and hawk-like eyes the open and relaxed hand and the deep regular and soft breathing all gave tokens of the most profound repose the slumber formed a singular group along with the tall forms of the hermit in his shaggy dress of goatskins bearing the lamp and the knight in his closed leathern coat-coat the former with an austere expression of the hermit in his shaggy dress of goatskins bearing the lamp and the night in his closed leathern coat the former with an austere expression of oscetic gloom the latter with anxious curiosity deeply impressed on his manly features he sleeps soundly said the hermit in the same low tone as before and repeating the words though he had changed the meaning from that which is literal to a metaphorical sense he sleeps in darkness but there shall be for him a day-spring

Starting point is 02:25:23 o elderim thy walking thoughts are yet as vain and wild as those which are wheeling their giddy dance through thy sleeping brain but the trumpet shall be heard and the dream shall be dissolved so saying and making the knight a sign to follow him the hermit went towards the altar and passing behind it pressed a spring which opening without a noise showed a small iron door wrought in the side of the cavern so as to be almost imperceptible and less upon the most severe scrutiny the hermit ere he ventured fully to open the drawer dropped some oil on the hinges which the lamp supplied a small staircase hewn in the rock was discovered when the iron door was at length completely opened take the veil which i hold said the hermit in a melancholy tone and blind mine eyes for i may not look on the treasure with thou art presently to behold without sin and presumption without reply the knight hastily muffled the recluse's head in the veil and the latter began to ascend the staircase as one too much accustomed to the way to require the use of light while at the same time he held the lamp to the scott who followed him for many steps up the narrow ascent at length they rested in a small vault of irregular form in one look of which the staircase terminated while in another corner a corresponding stair was seen to continue the ascent in a third angle was a gothic door very rudely ornamented with the usual attributes of clustered columns and carving and defined by a wicket strongly guarded with iron and studded with large nails to this last point the hermit directed his steps which seemed to falter as he approached it

Starting point is 02:27:24 put off thy shoes he said to his attendant the ground on which thou standest is holy banished from thy innermost heart each profane and carnal thought for to harbor such while in this place were a deadly impiety the knight lay aside his shoes as he was commanded and the hermit stood in the meanwhile as if communing with his soul in secret prayer and when he again moved commanded the knight to knock at the wicked three times he did so the door opened spontaneously at least sir kenneth beheld no one and his senses were at once assembled by a stream of the purest light and by a strong and almost oppressive sense of the richest perfumes. He stepped two or three paces back, and it was the space of a minute ere he recovered the dazzling and overpowering effects of the sudden change from darkness to light. When he entered the apartment in which this brilliant luster was displayed, he perceived that the light proceeded from a combination of silver lamps, fed with the purest oil, and sending forth the richest odours, hanging by a silver chain from the roof of a small,

Starting point is 02:28:41 Gothic chapel, hewn, like most part of the hermit's singular mansion, out of the sound and solid rock. But whereas in every other place which Sir Kenneth had seen, the labour employed upon the rock had been of the simplest and courses of description. It had in this chapel employed the invention and the chisels of the most able architects. The groined roofs rose from six columns on each side, carved with the rarest skill, and the manner in which the crossings of the concave arches were bound together, as it were, with appropriate ornaments, were all in the finest tone of the architecture of the age. Corresponding to the line of pillars, there were on each side six richly wrought niches,

Starting point is 02:29:32 each of which contained the image of one of the twelve apostles. at the upper and eastern end of the chapel stood the altar behind which a very rich curtain of persian silk embroidered with gold covered a recess containing unquestionably some image or relic of no ordinary sanctity in honour of which this singular piece of worship had been erected under the persuasion that this must be the case the knight advanced to the shrine and kneeling down before for it repeated his devotions with fervency during which his attention was disturbed by the curtain being suddenly raised or rather pulled aside how or by whom he saw not but in the niche which was thus disclosed he beheld a cabinet of silver and ebony with a double-folding door the whole formed into the miniature resemblance of a gothic church as he gazed with anxious curiosity on the shrine the two folding doors also flew open discovering a large piece of wood on which were blazoned the words vera cruz at the same time a choir of female voices sung gloria patry the instant the strain had ceased the shrine was closed and the curtain again drawn and the knight who knelt at the altar might now continue his devotions undisturbed in honor of the holy valley which had been just disclosed to his view.

Starting point is 02:31:11 He did this under the profound impression of one who had witnessed, with his own eyes, an awful evidence of the truth of his religion. And it was some time ere, concluding his orisons, he arose, and ventured to look around him for the hermit, who had guided him to this sacred and mysterious spot. He beheld him, his head still muffled in the veil which he had himself wrapped around it, crouching like a rated hound upon the threshold of the chapel but apparently without venturing to cross it the holiest reverence the most penitential remorse was expressed by his posture which seemed that of a man borne down and crushed to the earth by the burden of his inward feelings it seemed to the scot that only the sense of the deepest penitence remorse and humiliation could have thus prostrated a frame so strong and a spirit so fiery

Starting point is 02:32:12 he approached him as if to speak but the recluse anticipated his purpose murmuring and stifled tones from beneath the fold in which his head was muffled and which sounded like a voice proceeding from the serenements of a corpse abide abide happy that thou mayest the vision is not yet ended so saying he reared himself from the ground drew back from the threshold on which he had hither o lane broth straight and closed the the door of the chapel, which, secured by a spring bolt within, the snub of which resounded through the place, appeared so much like a part of the living rock from which the cavern was hewn, that Kenneth could hardly discern where the aperture had been. He was now alone in the lighted chapel, which contained the relic to which he had lately rendered his homage, without other arms than his dagger, or other companion than his pious thoughts and dauntless courage.

Starting point is 02:33:13 Uncertain what was next to happen, but he resolved to abide the course of events, Sir Kenneth Pace the Solitary Chapel till about the time of the earliest cock-crowing. At this dead season, when night and morning meet together, he heard, but from what quarter he could not discover, the sound of such a small silver bell, as it wrung at the elevation of the host in the ceremony, or sacrifice, as it has been called, of the Mass. The hour and the place rendered the sound fearfully solemn, and bold as he was, the knight withdrew himself into the farther nook of the chapel, at the end opposite to the altar, in order to observe, without interruption,

Starting point is 02:33:57 the consequences of this unexpected signal. He did not wait long ere the silken curtain was again withdrawn, and the relic again presented to his view as he sunk reverentially on his knee he heard the sound of the lords or earliest office of the catholic church sung by female voices which united together in the performance as they had done in the former service the knight was soon aware that the voices were no longer stationary in the distance but approached the chapel and became louder when a door imperceptible when closed like that by which he had himself entered, opened on the other side of the vault, and gave the tones of the choir more room to swirl along the ribbed arches of the roof. The knight fixed his eyes on the opening, with breathless anxiety, and, continuing to kneel in the attitude of devotion, which the place and scene required,

Starting point is 02:34:59 expected the consequence of these preparations. A procession appeared about to issue from the door. first four beautiful boys whose arms, necks and legs were bare, showing the bronze complexion of the east, and contrasting with the snow-white tunics which they wore, entered the chapel by two and two. The first pair bore senses, which they swung from side to side, adding double fragrance to the odours with which the chapel was already impregnated. The second pair scattered flowers. after these followed in due and majestic order the females who compose the choir six who from their black scalpelaries and black veils over their white garments appeared to be professed nuns in the order of mount carmel and as many whose veils being white argued them to be novices or occasional inhabitants in the cloister who were not as yet bound to it by vows

Starting point is 02:36:03 The former held in their hands large rosaries, while the younger and lighter figures who followed carried each a chaplet of red and white roses. They moved in procession around the chapel, without appearing to take the slightest notice of Kenneth, although passing so near him that their robes almost touched him, while they continued to sing. The knight doubted not that he was in one of those cloisters, where the noble Christian major, had formerly openly devoted themselves to the services of the church most of them had been suppressed since the mohabitans had reconquered palestine but many purchasing connivance by presents or receiving it from the clemency or contempt of the victors still continued to observe in private the ritual to which their vows had consecrated them yet though kenneth knew this to be the case the solemnity of the place and hour the surprise of the sudden appearance of these voteresses and the visionary manner in which they moved past him had such influence on his imagination that he could scarce conceive that the fair procession which he beheld was formed of creatures of this world so much did they resemble a choir of supernatural beings rendering homage to the universal object of adoration such was the knight's first idea as the procession passed him scarce means moving, save just sufficiently to continue their progress. So that, seen by the shadowy and

Starting point is 02:37:42 religious light, which the lamps shed through the clouds of incense which darkened the apartment, they appeared rather to glide than to walk. But as a second time, in surrounding the chapel, they passed the spot on which he kneeled. One of the white-stalled maidens as she glided by him, detached from the chaplet which she covered a rosebud, which she dropped from her fingers. perhaps unconsciously, on the foot of Sir Kenneth. The night started as if a dart had suddenly struck his person. For, when the mind is wound up to a high pitch of feeling and expectation, the slightest incident, if unexpected, gives fire to the train which imagination has already laid.

Starting point is 02:38:29 But he suppressed his emotion, recollecting how easily an incident so indifferent might have happened, and that it was only the uniform monotomy of the movie. of the choristers, which made the incident in the slightest degree remarkable. Still, while the procession, for the third time, surrounded the chapel, the thoughts and the eyes of Kenneth followed exclusively the one among the novices who had dropped the rosebud. Her step, her face, her form, was so completely assimilated to the rest of the choristers that it was impossible to perceive the least marks of individuality. and yet Kenneth's heart throbbed like a bird that would burst from its cage, as if to assure him, by its sympathetic suggestions, that the female who held the right file on the second rank of the novices was dearer to him, not only than all the rest that were present, but then the whole sex besides.

Starting point is 02:39:30 The romantic passion of love, as it was cherished, and indeed enjoined, by the rules of chivalry, associated well with the no-lawful, less romantic feelings of devotion, and they might be said much more to enhance than to counteract each other. It was, therefore, with a glow of expectation, that had something even of a religious character, that Sir Kenneth, his sensations thrilling from his heart to the ends of his fingers, expected some second sign of the presence of one who, he strongly fancied, had already bestowed on him the first. short as the space was during which the procession again completed a third preambulation of the chapel it seemed an eternity to kenneth at length the form which he had watched with such devoted attention drew nigh there was no difference betwixt that shrouded figure and the others with whom it moved in concert and in unison until just as she passed for the third time the kneeling crusader

Starting point is 02:40:35 a part of a little and well-proportioned hand, so beautifully formed as to give the highest idea of the perfect proportions of the form to which it belonged, stole through the folds of the gauze, like a moonbeam through the fleecy cloud of a summer night, and again a rosebud lay at the feet of the night of the leopard. This second intimation could not be accidental. It could not be fortuitous.

Starting point is 02:41:05 the resemblance of that half-seen but beautiful female hand with one which his lips had once touched and while they touched it had internally sworn allegiance to the lovely owner had further proof been wanting there was the glimmer of that matchless ruby ring on that snow-white finger whose invaluable worth kenneth would yet have prized less than the slightest sign which that finger could have made and failed too as she was he might see by chance or by favour a stray curl of that dark tresses each hair of which was dearer to him a hundred times than a chain of massive gold it was the lady of his love but that she should be here in the savage and sequester desert among vestials who rendered themselves habitants of wilds and of caverns that they might perform in secret those christian rites which they dared not assist in openly that this should be so in truth and in reality seem too incredible it must be a dream a delusive trance of the imagination while these thoughts passed through the mind of kenneth the same passage by which the procession had entered the chapel received them on their return the young sacristan's the sable nuns vanished successively through the open door at length she from whom he had received this double intimation passed also yet in passing turned ahead slightly indeed but perceptibly towards towards the place where he remained fixed as an image he marked the last wave of her veil it was gone and a darkness sunk upon his soul scarce less palpable than that which almost immediately enveloped his external sense

Starting point is 02:43:07 for the last chorister had no sooner crossed the threshold of the door then it shut with a loud sound and at the same instant the voices of the choir was silent the lights of the chapel were at once extinguished and Sir Kenneth remained solitary and in total darkness. But to Kenneth, solitude and darkness, and the uncertainty of his mysterious situation were as nothing, he thought not of them, cared not for them, cared for naught in the world save the fitting vision which had just glided past him, and the tokens of her favour which she had bestowed.

Starting point is 02:43:48 To grope on the floor for the buds which she had dropped, to press them to his lips, to his bosom, now alternately, now together, to rivet his lips to the cold stones on which, as near as he could judge, she had so lately stepped, to play all the extravagances which strong affection suggests, and vindicates to those who yield themselves up to it, were but the tokens of passionate love common to all ages. But it was peculiar to the times of chivalry,

Starting point is 02:44:20 that, in his wildest round, the night imagined of no attempt to follow or to trace the object of such romantic attachment that he thought of her as a deity who having deigned to show herself for an instant to her devoted worshipper had again returned to the darkness of her sanctuary or as an influential planet which having darted in some auspicious minute one favourable ray wrapped itself again in its veil of mist the motions of the motion of the motions of the motion of the lady of his love were to hint those of a superior being, who was to move without watch or control, rejoice him by her appearance, or depress him by her absence, animate him by her kindness, or drive him to despair by her cruelty, all at her own free will. And, without other importunity or remonstrance, than that expressed by the most devoted services of the heart and sword of the champion, whose sword of the champion, whose soul of the champion, whose soul sole object in life was to fulfill her commands, and, by the splendor of his own achievements,

Starting point is 02:45:29 to exult her fame. Such were the rules of chivalry, and of the love which was its ruling principle. But Sir Kenneth's attachment was rendered romantic by other, and still more peculiar circumstances. He had never even heard the sound of his lady's voice, though he had often beheld her beauty with rapture. she moved in a circle which his rank of knighthood permitted him indeed to approach but not to mingle with and highly as he stood distinguished for warlike skill and enterprise still the poor scottish soldier was compelled to worship his divinity at a distance almost as great as divides the persian from the sun which he adores but when was the pride of a woman too lofty to overlook the passionate devotion of a lover however inferior in degree her eye had been on him in the tournament her ear had heard his praises in the report of the battles which were daily fought and while count duke and lord contended for her grace it flowed unwillingly perhaps at first or even unconsciously towards the poor knight of the leopard who to support his rank had little besides his sword when she looked and when she listened, the lady saw and heard enough to encourage her in a partiality which had at first crept on her unawares.

Starting point is 02:47:02 If a knight's personal beauty was praised, even the most prudish dames of the military court of England would make an exception in favour of the Scottish Kenneth. and it oftentimes happened that notwithstanding the very considerable largessees which princes and peers bestowed on the minstrels an impartial spirit of independence would seize the poet and the harp was swept to the heroism of one who had neither palfreys nor garments to bestow in the girdon of his applause the moments when she listened to the praises of her lover became gradually more and more dear to the high-born edith relieving the flattery with which her ear was weary and presenting to her a subject of secret contemplation more worthy as he seemed by general report than those who surpassed him in rank and in the gifts of fortune as her attention became constantly though cautiously fixed on sir kenneth she grew more and more convinced of his personal devotion to herself and more and more certain in her mind that she grew more and more certain in her mind that that in kenneth of scotland she beheld the fated knight doomed to share with her through wheel and woe and the prospect looked gloomy and dangerous the passionate attachment to which the poets of the age described such universal dominion and which its manners and morals placed nearly on the same rank with devotion itself let us not disguise the truth from our readers when edith became aware of the state of her own sentiments chivalrous were her sentiments becoming a maiden not distant from the throne of england gratified as her pride must have been with the mute though unceasing homage rendered to her

Starting point is 02:48:52 by the knight whom she had distinguished. There were moments when the feelings of the woman, loving and beloved, murmured against the restraints of state and form by which she was surrounded, and when she almost blamed the timidity of her lover, who seemed to resolve not to infringe them. The etiquette, to use a modern phrase, of birth and rank, had drawn around her a magic circle, beyond which Sir Kenneth might indeed bow and gaze,

Starting point is 02:49:22 but within which he could no more pass than an evoked spirit can transgress the boundaries prescribed by the rod of a powerful enchanter the thought involuntary pressed on her that she herself must venture were it but the point of her fairy foot beyond the prescribed boundary if she ever hoped to give a lover so reserved and bashful an opportunity of so slight a favor as but to salute her chute-eye there was an example the noted president of the king's daughter of hungary who thus generously encouraged the squire of low degree and edith though of kingly blood was no king's daughter any more than her lover was of low degree fortune had put no such extreme barrier and obstacle to their affections something however within the maiden's bosom that modest pride which throws fetters even on love itself forbade her not to withstand in the superiority of her condition to make these advances which in every case delicacy assigns to the other sex above all sir kenneth was a knight so gentle and honorable so highly accomplished as her imagination at least suggested together with the strictest feelings of what was due to himself and to her that however constrained her attitude might be while receiving his adorations, like the image of some deity, who is neither supposed to feel, nor to reply to the homage of his votaries.

Starting point is 02:51:04 Still, the idol feared that to step prematurely from her pedestal would be to degrade herself in the eyes of her devoted worshipper. Yet the devout adorer of an actual idol can even discover signs of approbation in the rigid and immovable, or features of a marble image. And it is no wonder that something, which could be as favourably interpreted, glanced from the bright eyes of the lovely Edith, whose beauty indeed consisted rather more in that very power of expression

Starting point is 02:51:37 than an absolute regularity of contour or brilliancy of complexion. Some slight marks of distinction had escaped from her, notwithstanding her own jealous vigilance, else how could sir kenneth have so readily and so undoubtedly recognized the lovely hand of which scarce two fingers were visible from under the veil or how could he have rested so thoroughly assured that the two flowers successively dropped on the spot were intended as a recognition on the part of his lady love by what train of observation by what secret signs looks or gestures by what instinctive Freemasonry of love, this degree of intelligence came to subsist between Edith and her lover. We cannot attempt to trace.

Starting point is 02:52:30 For we are old, and such slight vestiges of affection, quickly discovered by younger eyes, defy the power of ours. Enough that such affection did subsist between parties who had never even spoken to one another. Though, on the side of Edith, it was checked by a deep sense of the difficulties and dangers which must necessarily attend the further progress of their attachment and upon that of the night by a thousand doubts and fears lest he had overestimated the slight tokens of the lady's notice varied as they necessarily were by long intervals of apparent coldness during which either the fear of excite in the observation of others and thus drawing danger upon her lover or that of sinking in his esteem by seeming too willing to be one may to behave with indifference and as if unobservant of his presence this narrative tedious perhaps but which the story renders necessary may serve to explain this state of intelligence if it deserves so strong a name betwixt the lovers when Edith's unexpected appearance in the chapel produced so powerful an effect on the feelings of her night.

Starting point is 02:53:51 End of Chapter 4 Chapter 5 of the talisman This is the Librevox recording. All Librefoch's recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Libravox.org. Recording by Lizzie Driver The Talisman by Sir Walter Scott. chapter v their necromanic forms in vain haunt us on the tented plain we bid these speck to shapes of antarath and haemagant wharton the most profound silence the deepest darkness continued to brood for more than an hour over the chaplain which we left the knight of the leopard still kneeling alternatively expressing thanks to heaven and gratitude to his lady for the boon which had been vouched safe to him

Starting point is 02:54:51 his own safety his own destiny for which he was at all times little anxious had not now the weight of a grain of dust in his reflections he was in the neighbourhood of lady edith he had received tokens of her grace he was in a place hallowed by relics of the most awful sanctity a christian soldier a devouted lover could fear nothing think nothing but his duty to heaven and his devoir to his lady at the lapse of the space of time which we have noticed a shrill whistle like that with which a falconer calls his hawk was heard to ring sharply through the vaulted chapel it was a sound ill-suited to the place and reminded sir kenneth how necessary it was he should be upon his guard he started from his knee and laid his hand upon his poignard a creaking sound as of screws or pulleys succeeded and a light streaming upwards as from an opening in the floor showed that a trap-door had been raised or depressed in less than a minute a long skinny arm partly naked partly clothes in a sleeve of red samite arose out of the aperture, holding a lamp as high as it could stretch upwards, and the figure to which the yarn belonged ascended step by step to the level of the chapel floor. The form and face of the being, who thus presented himself, were those of a frightful dwarf,

Starting point is 02:56:25 with a large head, a cape fantastically adorned with three peacock feathers, a dress of red samite, the richness of which rendered his ugliness more conspicuous, distinguished by gold bracelets and armlets and a white silk sash in which he wore a gold-tilted dagger this singular figure had in his left hand a kind of broom so soon as he stepped from the aperture through which he arose he stood still and as if to show himself more distinctly moved the lamp which he held slowly over his face and person successively illuminating his wild and fantastic features and his misshapen but nervous limbs though disproportioned in person the dwarf was not so distorted as to argue any want or strength or activity whilst sir kenneth gazed on this disagreeable object the popular creed occurred to his remembrance concerning the gnomes or earthly spirits which make their abode in the caverns of the earth and so much did this figure correspond with ideas he had formed of their appearance that he looked on it with disgust mingled not indeed with fear but that sort of awe which the presence of a supernatural creature may infuse into the most steady bosom the dwarf again whistled and summoned from beneath a companion this second figure ascended in the same manner as the first but it was a female arm in this second instance which upheld the lamp from the subterranean vault

Starting point is 02:58:02 out of which these presentments arose and it was a female form much resembling the first in shape and proportions which slowly emerged from the floor her dress was also a red samite fantastically cut and flounced as if she had been dressed for some exhibition of mimes or jugglers and with the same minuteness which her predecessor had exhibited she passed the lamp over her face and person which seemed to rival the males of the male's in ugliness. But with all this most unfavourable exterior, there was one trait in the features of both, which argued alertness and intelligence in the most uncommon degree. This arose from the brilliancy of their eyes, which, deep-set beneath black and shaggy brows, gleamed with a lustre which, like that in the eye of the toad, seemed to make some amends for the extreme ugliness of countenance and person. Sir Kenneth remained as a little bit of the same. Sir Kenneth remained as a if spellbound while this unlovely pair moving round the chapel close to each other appeared to perform the duty of sweeping it like menials but as they used only one hand the floor was not much benefited by the exercise

Starting point is 02:59:17 which they piled with such oddity of gestures and manner as befitted their bizarre and fantastic appearance when they approached near to the night in the course of their occupation they ceased to use their brooms and placed in themselves side by side directly opposite to sir kenneth they again slowly shifted the lights which they held so as to allow him distinctly to survey features which were not rendered more agreeable by being brought nearer and to observe the extreme quickness and keenness with which their black and glittering eyes flashed back the light of the lamps they then turned the gleam of both lights upon the night and having accurately surveyed him turn their faces to each other and set up a loud yelling laugh which resounded in his ears the sound was so ghastly that sir kenneth started at hearing it and hastily demanded in the name of god who they were who profound that holy place and elrich exclamations i am the dwarf nectobanus said the abortion seeming male in a voice corresponding to his figure and resembling the voice of the night-crow more than any sound which is heard by daylight and i am quennavar his lady and his love replied the female in tones which being shriller were yet wilder than those of her companion wherefore are you here again demanded the knight scarcely yet assured that they were human being which he saw before him. I am, replied the male dwarf,

Starting point is 03:01:00 with much assumed gravity and dignity, the 12th Imam. I am Mohamed Mahadi, the guide and the conductor of the faithful. A hundred horses stand ready saddled for me and my train at the Holy City, and as many at the city of refuge. I am he who shall bear witness,

Starting point is 03:01:19 and this is one of my horace. How liest! "'answer the female, interrupting her companion, in tones yet shriller than his own. "'I am none of thy, Horace, and thou art no such infidel trash as the Mohammed of whom thou speakest. "'May my curse rest upon his coffin. "'I tell thee, thou, thou asa visica, thou art King Arthur of Britain, "'whom the fairy stole away from the field of Avalon, and I am Dame Guinevar, famed for her beauty.' "'But in truth, noble sir,' said that.

Starting point is 03:01:53 the male dwarf. We are distressed princes, dwelling under the wing of King Guy of Jerusalem, until he was driven out from his own nest by the foul infidels. Heaven's bolts consume them. Hush! said a voice from the side upon which the knight had entered.

Starting point is 03:02:12 Hush falls, and begone, your ministry has ended. The dwarfs had no sooner heard the command, Thun, give bring in discordant whispers to each other, they blew out their lights at once, and left the night in utter darkness, which, when the pattering of their retiring feet had died away, was soon accompanied by its fittest companion. Total silence.

Starting point is 03:02:36 The knight felt the departure of these unfortunate creatures a relief. He could not, from their language, manners and appearance, doubt that they belonged to the degraded class of beings, whom, deformity of person and weakness of intellect, recommended to the painful situation of appendages to great families, where their personal appearance and imbecility were food for merriment to the household. Superior in no respect to the ideas and manners of his time, the Scottish knight might, at another period, have been amused by the mummery of these poor effigies of humanity. But now their appearance, gesticulations, and language broke the train of deep and solemn feeling with which he was impressed. and he rejoiced in the disappearance of the unhappy objects a few minutes after they had retired the door at which he had entered opened slowly and remaining ajar

Starting point is 03:03:36 discovered a faint light arising from a lantern placed upon the threshold its doubtful and wavering gleam showed a dark form reclined beside the entrance but without its precincts which on approaching it more nearly he recognized to be the hermitter's hermit crouching in the same humble posture in which he had first laid himself down and which doubtless he is retained during the whole time of his guests continuing in the chapel all is over said the hermit as he heard the night approaching and the most wretched of earthly sinners with him who should think himself most honoured and most unhappy among the race of humanity must retire from this place take the light and guide me down the descent for i must not uncover my own eyes until I am far from this hallowed spot. The night obeyed in silence, for a solemn and yet ecstatic sense of what he had seen, had silenced even the eager workings of curiosity. He led the way, with considerable accuracy, through the various secret passages and stairs by which they had ascended, until at length they found themselves in the outward cell of

Starting point is 03:04:48 the hermit's cavern. The condemned criminal is restored to his dungeon. reprived from one miserable day to another until his awful judge shall at length appoint the well-deserved sentence to be carried into execution as the hermit spoke these words he laid aside the veil with which his eyes had been bound and looked at it with a suppressed and hollow sigh no sooner had he restored it to the crypt from which he had cause the scott to bring it then he hastily and sternly said to his companion be gone begone to rest to rest you may sleep you can sleep i neither can nor may respecting the profound agitation with which this was spoken the night retired into the inner cell but casting back his eye as he left the exterior grotto he beheld the anchorite stripping his shoulders with frantic haste of their shaggy mantle and ere he could shut the frail door which separated the two compartments of the cavern he heard the clang of the scourge and the groans of the penitent under his self-inflicted penance a cold shudder came over the night as he reflected what could be the foulness of the sin what the depth of the remorse which apparently such severe penance could neither cleanse nor a surge he told his beads devoutly and flung himself on his rude couch after a glance at the still sleeping muslim and wearied by the various scenes of the day and the night soon slept as sound as infancy

Starting point is 03:06:28 upon his waking in the morning he held certain conferences with the hermit upon matters of importance and the result of their intercourse induced him to remain for two days longer in the grotto he was regular as became a pilgrim in his devotional exercises but was not again admitted to the chapel in which he had seen such wonders end of chapter five chapter six of the talisman this is a librivox recording all librivox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit librivox dot org recording by lizzie driver the talisman by sir walter scott chapter six now change the scene and let the trumpet sound for we must rouse the lion from his lair old play the scene must change as our programme has announced from the mountain wilderness of jordan to the camp of king richard of england then stationed between sceandakere and ascalon and containing that army with which he of the lion-heart had promised himself a triumphant march to jerusalem and in which he would probably have succeeded if not hindered by the jealousies of the christian princes engaged in the same enterprise and the offence taken by them at the uncurbed haughtiness of the english monarch and richard's unveiled contempt for his brother sovereigns who his equals in rank were yet far his inferiors in courage hardihood and military talents such discords and particularly those betwixt richard and philippa france created disputes and obstacles which impeded every active measure proposed by the heroic though impetuous richard

Starting point is 03:08:27 while the ranks of the Crusaders were daily thinned, not only by the desertion of individuals, but of entire bands, headed by their respective feudal leaders, who withdrew from a contest in which they had ceased to hope for success. The effects of the climate became, as usual, fatal to soldiers from the north, and the more so that the dissolute license of the Crusaders, forming a singular contrast to the principles and purpose of their taking up arms,

Starting point is 03:08:57 rendered them more easy victims to the insolubrious influence of burning heat and chilling jews to this discouraging cause of loss was to be added the sword of the enemy saladin than whom no greater name is recorded in eastern history had learned to his fatal experience that his light-armed followers were little able to meet in close encounter with the ironclad franks and had been taught at the same time to apprehend and dread the adventurous character of his antagonist richard but if his armies were more than once rooted with great slaughter his numbers gave the saracen the advantage in those lightest skirmishes of which many were inevitable as the army of his assailants decreased the enterprises of the sultan became more numerous and more bold in the species of petty warfare the camp of the crusaders was surrounded and almost besieged by clouds of light cavalry resembling swarms of wasps easily crushed when they were once grasped but furnished with wings to elude superior strength and stings to inflict harm and mischief there were perpetual warfare of posts and foragers in which many valuable lives were lost without any corresponding object being gained convoys were intercepted and communications were cut off the crusaders had to purchase the means of sustaining life by life itself and water like that of the whirl of bethleum longed for by king david one of its ancient monarchs was then as before only obtained by the expenditure of blood the evils were in a great measure counterbalanced by the stern resolution and restless activity of king richard who with some of his best knights was ever on horseback ready to repair to any point where danger occurred and doff to not only bring in unexpected succour to the christians but discomforting the infidels when they seemed most secure a victory

Starting point is 03:11:10 but even the iron frame of the corps de leon could not support without injury the alternations of the unwholesome climate join to ceaseless exertions of body and mind he became afflicted with one of those slow and wasting fevers peculiar to asia and in spite of his great strength and still greater courage grew first unfit to mount on horseback and then unable to attend the councils of war which were from time to time held by the crusaders it was difficult to say whether this state of personal inactivity was rendered more galling or more endurable to the english monarch by the resolution of the council to engage in a truce of thirty days with the sultan for on the one hand if he was incensed at the delay which this interposed to the progress of the great enterprise he was on the other somewhat consoled by knowing that others were not acquiring laurels while he was on the other somewhat consoled by knowing that others were not acquiring laurels while he was, he remained inactive upon a sick-bed. That, however, which Cauder Leone could least excuse, was the general inactivity which prevailed in the camp of the Crusaders, so soon as his illness assumed a serious aspect.

Starting point is 03:12:32 And the reports which he extracted from his unwilling attendance gave him to understand that the hopes of the host had abated in proportion to his illness, and that the interval of truce was employed, not in recruiting their numbers, reanimating their courage, fostering their spirit of conquest, and preparing for a speedy and determined advance upon the Holy City, which was the object of their expedition,

Starting point is 03:12:58 but in securing the camp occupied by their diminished followers, with trenches, palisades, and other fortifications, as if preparing, rather, to repel an attack from a powerful enemy, so soon as hostility should recommence, than to assume the proud character of conquerors and assailants. The English king chafed under these reports, like the imprisoned lion viewing his prey from the iron barriers of his cage. Naturally rash and impetuous, the irritability of his temper preyed on itself.

Starting point is 03:13:35 He was dreaded by his attendance, and even the medical assistance, feared to assume the necessary authority which a physician, to do justice to his patient must needs exercise over him one faithful baron who perhaps from the congenial nature of his disposition was devoutly attached to the king's person dared alone to come between the dragon and his wrath and quietly but firmly maintained a control which no other dared assume over the dangerous invalid and which thomas de moulton only exercised because he esteemed his sovereign's life and honor more than he did the degree of favour which he might lose or even the risk which he might incur in nursing a patient so intractable and whose displeasures was so perilous sir thomas was the lord of gillsland in cumberland and in an age when surnames and titles were not distinctly attached as now to the individuals who bore them he was called by the normans the lord de vaux and in english by the saxons who clung to their native language and were proud of the share of saxon blood in this renowned warrior's veins he was termed thomas or more familiarly thomas of the gills or narrow valleys from which his extensive domains derived their well-known appellation this chief had been exercised in almost all the wars whether waged betwixt england and scotland or amongst the various domestic factions which then tore the former country asunder

Starting point is 03:15:19 and in all had been distinguished as well from his military conduct as his personal prowess he was in other respects a rude soldier blunt and careless in his bearing and taciturn nay almost sullen in his habits of society and seeming at least to disclaim all knowledge of policy and of courtly art there were men however who pretended to look deeply into character who asserted that the lord de vaux was not less shrewd and aspiring than he was blunt and bold and who thought that while he assimilated himself to the king's own character of blunt hardihood it was in some degree at least with an eye to establish his favor and to gratify his own heartyhood and to gratify his own hopes of deep-laid ambition. But no one cared to thwart his schemes, if such he had, by rivaling him in the dangerous occupation of daily attendance on the sick-bed of a patient whose disease was pronounced infectious, and more especially when it was remembered that the patient was the core de Leon, suffering under all the furious impatience of a soldier withheld from battle, and a sovereign sequestered from authority.

Starting point is 03:16:42 and the common soldiers at least in the english army were generally of opinion that divorks attended on the king like comrade upon comrade in the honest and disinterested frankness of military friendship contrasted between the partakers of daily dangers it was on the decline of a syrian day that richard lay on his couch of sickness loathing it as much in mind as his illness made it irksome to his body his bright blue eye which at all time shone with uncommon keenness and splendor had its vivacity augmented by fever and mental impatience and glanced from among his curled and unshoned locks of yellow hair as fitfully and as vividly as the last gleams of the sun shot through the clouds of an approaching thunderstorm which still however are gilded by its beams his manly features showed the progress of wasting illness and his beard neglected and untrimmed had overgrown both lips and chin casting himself from side to side now clutching towards him the coverings which at the next moment he flung as impatiently from him his tossed couch and impatient gestures showed at once the energy and the reckless impatience of the disposition whose natural sphere was that of the most active exertion beside his couch stood thomas devorks in face attitude and manner the strongest possible contrast to the suffering monarch his stature approached the gigantic and his hair in thickness might have resembled that of samson though only after the israelitish champion's locks had passed under the shears of the philistines for those of devauches were cut short that they might be enclosed under his helmet the light of his

Starting point is 03:18:43 light of his broad large hazel eye resembled that of the autumn warm and it was only perturbed for a moment when from time to time it was attracted by richard's vehement marks of agitation and restlessness his features though massive like his person might have been handsome before they were defaced with scars his upper lip after the fashion of the normans was covered with thick mustaches which grew so long and luxuriant as to mingle with his hair, and, like his hair, were dark brown, slightly brindled with grey. His frame seemed of that kind, which most readily defies both toil and climate, for he was thin, flanked, broad-chested, long-armed, deep-breathed, and strong-limbered. He had not laid aside as buffcoat, which displayed the cross cut on the shoulder, for more than three nights. enjoying but such momentary repose as the warder of a sick monarch's couch might by snatches indulge this baron rarely changed his posture except to administer to richard the medicine or refreshments which none of his less favoured attendants could persuade the impatient monarch to take and there was something affecting in the kindly yet awkward manner in which he discharged offices so strangely contrasted with his blunt and soldierly

Starting point is 03:20:19 habits and manners. The pavilion, in which these personages were, had, as became the time, as well as the personal character of Richard, more of a warlike than a sumptuous or royal character. Weapons offensive and defensive, several of them strange and newly invented construction, were scattered about the tender apartment or disposed upon the pillars which supported it, skins of animals slain in the chase was stretched on the ground or extended along the sides of the pavilion and upon a heap of these sylvan spoils lay three allans as they were then called wolf greyhounds that is of the largest size and as white as snow their faces their faces marked with many a scarf from clutch and fang showed their shone sharing, collecting the trophies upon which they reposed, and their eyes, fixed from time to time, with an expressive stretch and yawn upon the bed of Richard,

Starting point is 03:21:28 evinced how much they marvelled at, and regretted the unwanted inactivity which they were compelled to share. These were but the accompaniments of the soldier and huntsman, but on a small table close by the bed was placed a shield of wrought steel, of triangular form, bearing the three lines passant first assumed by the chivalrous monarch and before it the golden circlet resembling much a ducal coronet only that it was higher in front than behind which with the purple velvet and embroidered tiara that lined it formed then the emblem of england's sovereignty beside it as if prompt for defending the regal symbol lay a mighty kirtle-axe, which would have wearied the arm of any other than Caudilion. In an out of petition of the pavilion, waited two or three officers of the royal household,

Starting point is 03:22:29 depressed, anxious for their master's health, and not less for their own safety in case of his decease. Their gloomy apprehensions spread themselves to the warders without, who paced about in downcast and silent contemplation, or, resting on their house, albirds stood motionless on their post, rather like armed trophies than living warriors. So, thou has no better news to bring me from without, Sir Thomas, said the king, after a long and perturbed silence spent in the feverish agitation which we have endeavoured to

Starting point is 03:23:06 describe. All our knights turned to women, and all our ladies become devotees, and neither a spark of valour nor of gallantry to enlighten a camp which contains the choices of Europe's chivalry. Ha! The truce, my lord, said de Vaux, with the same patience, with which he had, twenty-three times, repeated the explanation. The truce prevents us bearing ourselves as men of action, and for the ladies, I am no great reveller, as is well-known to your majesty, and seldom exchanged seal and buff for velvet and gold. But thus far I know, that our choicest beauties are waiting upon the Queen's Majesty and the Princess,

Starting point is 03:23:53 to a pilgrimage to the convent of Ngadi, to accomplish their vows for Your Highness's deliverance from this trouble. And is it thus, said Richard, with the impatience of indisposition, that royal matrons and maiden should risk themselves, where the dogs who defile the land have as little truth to man as they have faith towards god nay my lord said divauch's word for their safety true true replied richard and i did the heathen soldier injustice i owe him reparation for it would god i were but fit to offer it him upon my body between the two hosts christiandom and heathenness both looking on as richard spoke he thrust his right arm out of bed near to the shoulder and painfully raising himself in his couch shook his clenched hand as if it grasped sword or battle-axe and was then brandished over the jewelled turban of the sultan it was not without a gentle degree of violence which the king would scarce have endured from another that divoraks in his character of sickness

Starting point is 03:25:10 compelled his royal master to replace himself in the couch and conveyed his sinewy arm neck and shoulders with the care which a mother bestows upon an impatient child thou art a rough nurse though a willing one divorce said the king laughing with a bitter expression while he submitted to the strength which he was unable to resist methinks a coiff would become thy lowering features as well as a child's biggin would beseem mine we should be babe and nurse to frighten girls with we have frightened men in our time my liege said du vaux and i trust may live to frighten them again what is a fever fit that we should not endure it patiently in order to get rid of it easily fever fit exclaimed richard impetuously thou mayest think and justly that it is a fever fit with me But what is it with all the other Christian princes? With Philip of France, Dahlostrian, with him of Montserrat, with the Hospitalliers, with the Templars? What is it with all them? I will tell thee.

Starting point is 03:26:26 It is cold palsy, a dead lethargy, a disease that deprives them of speech and action, a canker that has eaten into the heart of all that is noble and chivalrous and virtuous among them, that has made them false to the noblest of our ever ever. knights were sworn to, has made them indifferent to their fame, and forgetful of their God. For the love of heaven, my liege, said De Vorks, take it less violently, you'll be heard without doors, where such speeches are but too current already among the common soldiery, and engendered discord and contention in the Christian host. Bethink you that your illness mars the mainspring of their enterprise. A manganel will work without screw and lever, better than the Christian host without

Starting point is 03:27:15 King Richard. Thou flatterest me, De Vauxx, said Richard, and not insensible to the power of praise. He reclined his head on the pillow, with a more deliberate attempt to repose than he had yet exhibited. But Thomas DeVorx was no courtier. The phrase which had offered had risen sponsor. spontaneously to his lips, and he knew not how to pursue the pleasing theme so as to soothe and prolong the vein which he had excited. He was silent, therefore, until, relapsing into his moody contemplations, the king demanded of him sharply, Disparadieu, this is smoothly said to sue the sick man, but as a league of monarchs, an assemblage of nobles, a convocation of all the chivalry of Europe, dropped with the sickness of one, man, though he chances to be king of England? Why should Richard's illness, or Richard's death, check the march of thirty thousand men as brave as himself? When the master's stag is struck down,

Starting point is 03:28:20 the herd did not disperse upon his fall. When the falcons strikes the leading crane, another takes the guidance of the phalanx. Why do not the powers assemble and choose someone to whom they may entrust the guidance of the host? Forsooth, and if it please your majesty, said De Vorks. I hear consultations have been held among the royal leaders for some such purpose. Exclaimed Richard, his jealousy awakened, giving his mental irritation another direction.

Starting point is 03:28:55 Am I forgotten by my allies, ere I have taken the last sacrament? Do they hold me dead already? But, no, no, they are right. And whom do they select as leader of the Christian host? rank and dignity said divorks point to the king of france oh aye answered the english monarch philip of france and navarre denis mountjoy his most christian majesty mouth-filling words these there is but one risk that you might mistake the words enaria for enevant and lead us back to paris instead of marching to jerusalem his political head has learned by this time that there is more to be gotten by oppressing his feudatories and pillaging his allies than fighting with the turks for the holy sepulchre they might choose the archduke of austria said de vaux's

Starting point is 03:29:52 what because he is big and burly like they self thomas nearly a sick-headed but without thy indifference to danger and carelessness of offence i tell thee that austria has in all that mass of flesh no bolder animation than is afforded by the peevishness of a wasp and the courage of a wren out upon him he is a leader of chivalry to deeds of glory give him a flagon of renish to drink with his besmirched baron haughters and lance nest there is the grand master of the templars continued the baron not sorry to keep his master's attention engaged on other topics than his own illness though at the expense of the characters of prince and potentate there is the grand master of the templars he continued undaunted skilful brave in battle and sage in counsel having no separate kingdoms of his own to divert his attentions from the recovery of the holy land what thinks your majesty of the master as a general leader of the christian host buceant answered the king oh no exception can be taken to brother jarl amory he understands the ordering of a battle and the fighting in front when it begins but sir thomas were it fair to take the holy land from the heathen saladin so full of all the virtues which may distinguish unchristian men and give it to jarl samury a worse pagan than himself an idolater a devil worshipper a necromancer who practices crimes the most dark and unnatural in the vaults and secret places of abomination and darkness the grand master of the hospitalliers of st john of jerusalem is not tainted by fame either with heresy or magic said thomas de vauxes but is he not a sordid miser said richard hastily has he not been suspected ay more than suspected of selling to the infidels those advantages which they would never have won by fair force

Starting point is 03:32:02 tushman but to give the army to be made merchandise of by venetian skippers and lombardy peddlers then to trust it to the grand master of st john well then i will venture but another guest said the baron de vauxes what say you to the gallant marquess of montserrat so wise so elegant such a good man at arms wise cunning you would say replied richard elegant in a lady's chamber if you will oh ay conrad of montserrat who knows not the popinjay politic and versatile he will change you his purposes as often as the trimmings of his doublet and you shall never be able to guess the hue of his innermost vestiments from their outward colours a man at arms ay a fine vigour on horseback and can bear him well in the tilt-yard and at the barriers when swords are blunted at point and edge and spears are tipped with trenches of wood instead of steel pikes wert thou not with me when i said to the same gay marquess here we be three good christians and on yonder plain their pricks a band of some three three score Saracens. What say you to charge them briskly? There are but twenty unbelieving miscreants to each true knight. I recollect the Marquess replied, said Divorx, that his limbs were of flesh, not of iron, and that he would rather bear the heart of a man than of a beast, though the beast

Starting point is 03:33:40 were the lion. But I see how it is. We shall end where we began, without hope of praying at the sepulchre, until heaven shall restore King Richard to health. At this grave remark, Richard broke out into a hearty fit of laughter, the first which he had for some time indulged in. Why, what a thing is conscience, he said, that through its means, even such a thick-witted northern lord as thou, can spring thy sovereign to confess his folly. It is true that, did they not propose themselves as fit to hold my leading staff, little should i care for plucking the silk and trappings of the puppets thou hast shown me in succession what concerns it me what fine tinsel robes they swagger in unless when they are named as rivals in the glorious enterprise to which i have avowed myself

Starting point is 03:34:33 yes do vorks i confess my weakness and the wilfulness of my ambition the christian camp contains doubtless many a better knight than richard of england and it would be wise and worthy to assign to the best of them the leading of the host but continued the warlike monarch raising himself in his bed and shaking the cover from his head while his eyes sparkled as they were wont to do on the eve of battle was such a knight to plant the banner of the cross on the temple of jerusalem while i was unable to bear my share in the noble task he should so soon as i were fit to lay lance in rest undergo my challenge to mortal combat for having diminished my fame and pressed him before to the object of my enterprise but hark what trumpets are those at a distance those of king philip as i guess my liege said the stout englishman thou art dull of ear thomas said the king endeavouring to start up here is thou not the clash and clang by heaven the turks are in the camp i hear they lilyas open bracket the war cries of the moslema close bracket he again endeavoured to get out of bed and de vaux was obliged to exercise his own great strength and also to summon the assistance of the chamberlains from the inner tent to restrain him thou art a false traitor de vorks said the incensed monarch when breathless and exhausted with struggling he was compelled to submit to superior strength and to repose in quiet on his couch i would i were nor would i were but strong enough to dash thy brains out with my basile axe i would you have the strength my liege said de vorks and would even take the risk of its being so employed

Starting point is 03:36:36 the odds would be in great favour of christiandom were thomas malton dead and cordially on himself again my honest and faithful servant said richard extending his hand which the baron reverentially saluted forgive thy master's impatience of mood it is this burning fever which chides thee and not thy kind master richard of england but go o prithee and bring me word what strangers are in the camp for these sounds are not of christiandom du vaux left the pavilion on the errand assigned and in his absence which he had resolved should be brief he charged the chamberlains, pages, and attendants to redouble their attention on their sovereign, with threats of holding them to responsibility, which rather added to than diminished their timid anxiety in the discharge of their duty.

Starting point is 03:37:34 For next, perhaps to the ire of the monarch himself, they dreaded that of the stern and exoriable lord of Gillsland, Sir Thomas Moulton of Gilsland. End of Chapter 6. Chapter 7 of the Talisman This is Librivox recording All Libravox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer, please visit Libravox.org

Starting point is 03:38:10 Recording by Lizzie Driver The Talisman by Sir Walter Scott Chapter 7 There was never a time on the March parts yet When Scottish with English met But it was marvel if the red blood ran not as the rain does in the street. Battle of Otterbourne A considerable band of Scottish warriors had joined the Crusaders,

Starting point is 03:38:36 and had naturally placed themselves under the command of the English monarch. Being, like his native troops, most of them of Saxon and Norman descent, speak in the same languages, possessed, some of them, of English as well as Scottish demenses, and allied in some cases by blood and intermarriage. the period also proceeded that when the grasping ambition of edward i gave a deadly and envenomed character to the wars betwixt the two nations the english fighting for the subjugation of scotland and the scottish with all the stern determination and obstinacy which had ever characterized the nation for the defence of their independence by the most violent means under the most disadvantageous circumstances and at the most extreme hazard as yet wars betwixt the two nations though fierce and frequent had been conducted on principles of fair hostility and admitted of these softening shades by which courtesy and the respect for open and generous foemen qualify and mitigate the horrors of war in time of peace therefore and especially when both as at present were engaged in war waged in behalf of a common cause and rendered dearer

Starting point is 03:39:57 to them by their ideas of religion, the adventurers of both countries frequently fought side by side, their national emulation, serving only to stimulate them to excel each other in their efforts against the common enemy. The Frank and Marshall character of Richard, who made no distinction betwixt his own subjects and those of William of Scotland, excepting as they bore themselves in the field of battle, tended much to conciliate the troops of both nations. but upon his illness and the disadvantageous circumstances in which the crusaders were placed the national disunion between the various bands united in the crusade began to display itself just as old wounds break out afresh in the human body when under the influence of disease or debility the scottish and english equally jealous anti-spirited and apt to take offence the former the more so because the poorer and the weaker nations the scottish and english equally jealous anti-spirited and apt to take offence the former the more so because the poorer and the weaker nation began to fill up by internal dissension the period when the truce forbade them to wreck their united vengeance on the saracens like the contending roman chiefs of old the scottage would admit no superiority and their southern neighbors would brook no equality

Starting point is 03:41:16 there were charges and recriminations and both the common soldiery and their leaders and commanders who had been good comrades in times of victory lowered on each other in the period of adversity, as if their union had not been then more essential than ever, not only to the success of their common cause, but to their joint safety. The same disunion had begun to show itself betwixt the French and English, the Italians and the Germans, and even between the Danes and Swedes. But it is only that which divided the two nations, whom one island bred, and who seemed more animated against each other for the very reason, that our narrative is principally concerned.

Starting point is 03:41:57 with. Of all the English nobles who had followed their king to Palestine, De Vaux's was most prejudiced against the Scottish. They were his near neighbours, with whom he had been engaged during his whole life in private or public warfare, and on whom he had inflicted many calamities, while he had sustained at their hands not a few. His love and devotion to the king was like the vivid affection of the old English Mastiff to his master, leaving him churlish and inaccessible to all others even towards those to whom he was indifferent and rough and dangerous to any against whom he entertained a prejudice divorks had never observed without jealousy and displeasure his king exhibit any mark of courtesy or favour to the wicked deceitful and ferocious race born on the other side of a river or an imaginary line drawn through waste and wilderness and he even doubted the success of a crusade in which they were suffered to bear arms holding them in his secret soul little better than the saracens whom he came to combat

Starting point is 03:43:06 it may be added that as being himself a blunt and downright englishman unaccustomed to conceal the slightest movement either of love or of dislike he accounted the fair-spoken courtesy which the scots had learned either from the imitation of their frequent allies the french or which might have arisen from their own proud and reserved character as a false and astutious mark of the most dangerous designs against their neighbours over whom he believed with genuine english confidence they could by fair manhood never obtain any advantage yet though devaques entertained these sentiments concerning his northern neighbours and extended them with little mitigation even to such as it assumed the cross his respect for the king and a sense of the duty imposed by his vow as a crusader prevented him from displaying them otherwise than by regularly shunning all intercourse with this scottish brethren at arms as far as possible by observing a sullen taciturnity when compelled to meet them occasionally and by looking scornfully upon them when they encountered on the march and in the camp the scottish barons and knights were not men to bear his scorn unobserved or unreplied to and it came to pass that he was regarded as the determined and active enemy of a nation whom after all he only disliked and in some sort despised nay it was remarked by his own own own own dislike and in some sort despised nay it was remarked by his own by close observers that, if he had not towards them the charity of Scripture, which suffereth long and judges kindly, he was by no means deficient in the subordinate and limited virtue,

Starting point is 03:44:54 which alleviates and relieves the wants of others. The wealth of Thomas of Gillsland procured supplies of provisions and medicines, and some of these usually flowed by secret channels into the quarters of the Scottish. His surly benevolence proceeding on the principle that, next to a man's friend, his foe was of most importance to him, passing over all the intermediate relations as too indifferent to merit even a thought. This explanation is necessary, in order that the reader may fully understand what we are now up to detail. Thomas DeVorke's had not made many steps beyond the entrance of the Royal Pavilion, when he was aware of what the far more acute ear of the English monarch,

Starting point is 03:45:40 no mean proficient in the art of minstrelsy had instantly discovered that the musical strains namely which had reached their ears were produced by the pipes shams and kettle-drums of the saracens and at the bottom of an avenue of tents which formed a broad access to the bavilion of richard he could see a crowd of idle soldiers assembled around the spot from which the music was heard almost in the centre of the camp and he saw with great surprise mingled amid the helmets of various forms worn by the crusaders of different nations white turbans and long pikes announcing the presence of armed saracens and the huge deformed heads of several camels or dromedaries overlooking the multitude by aid of their long disproportioned necks wandering and displeased at a sight so unexpected and singular for it was customary to leave all flags of truce in other communications from the enemy at an appointed place without the barriers the baron looked eagerly round for someone of whom he might inquire the cause of this alarming novelty the first person whom he met advancing to him he set down at once by his grave and haughty step as a spaniard or a scot and presently after muttered to himself and a scot it is he of the leopard i have seen him fight indifferently well for one of his country Loath to ask even a pass in question, he was about to pass Sir Kenneth, with that sullen and lowering port, which seems to say, I know thee, but I will hold no communication with thee.

Starting point is 03:47:29 But his purpose was defeated by the Northern Knight, who moved forward directly to him, and accosting him with formal courtes he said, My lord of Valks of Gilsland, I have in charge to speak with you. Ha! returned the English Baron. With me? but say your pleasure so it be shortly spoken i am on the king's errand mine touches king richard yet more nearly answered sir kenneth i bring him i trust health the lord of gillsland measured the scott with incredulous eyes and replied thou art no leech i think sir scott i had as soon thought of your bringing the king of england wealth sir kenneth though displeased with the manor'st with the manor'st sir scott i had as soon thought of your bringing the king of england wealth sir kenneth though displeased with the manner of the baron's reply, answered calmly. Health to Richard's glory and wealth to Christendom.

Starting point is 03:48:23 But my time presses. I pray you, may I see the king? Surely not, fair sir, said the Baron, until your errand be told more distinctly, the sick chambers of princes open not to all who inquire, like a northern hostily. My lord, said Kenneth, the cross which I were in common with yourself, and the importance of what I have to tell, must for the present, cause me to pass over a bearing which else I were unept to endure.

Starting point is 03:48:55 In plain language, then, I bring with me a moorish physician, who undertakes to work a cure on King Richard. A moorish physician? said De Vaux, and who will warrant that he brings not poisons instead of remedies? His own life, my lord. His head, which he offers, as a guarantee. I have known many a resolute ruffian, said De Vauks, who valued his own life as little as it deserved, and would troop to the gallows as merrily as if the hangman were his partner in a dance. But thus it is, my lord, replied the Scot. Saladin, to whom none will deny the credit of a generous and valiant enemy,

Starting point is 03:49:41 hath sent this leech hither, with an honourable retinue and guard, befitting the high estimation, in which el hakeen the physician is held by the sultan and with fruits and refreshments for the king's private chamber and such message as may pass between his honourable enemies praying him to be recovered of his fever that he may be the fitter to receive a visit from the sultan with his naked scimitar in his hand and a hundred thousand cavaliers at his back will it please you who are of the king's secret council to cause these camels to be discharged of their burdens and some order taken as to the reception of the learned physician. Wonderful, said De Vaux's, as speaking to himself. And who will vouch for the honour of Saladin, in a case when bad faith would rid him at once of his most powerful adversary? I, myself, replied Sir Kenneth,

Starting point is 03:50:40 will be his guarantee with honour, life and fortune. Strange, again ejaculated DeVorx. The North vouchers for the South, the Scot for the Turk. May I crave of you, Sir Knight, how you became concerned in this affair? I have been absent on a pilgrimage, in the cause of which, replied Sir Kenneth, I had a message to discharge towards the holy hermit of Ngadi. May I not be entrusted with it, Sir Kenneth, and with the answer of the Holy Man? It may not be, my lord, answered the Scot.

Starting point is 03:51:18 i am of the secret council of england said the englishman haughtily to which land i owe no allegiance said kenneth though i have voluntary followed in this war the personal fortunes of england sovereign i was despatched by the general council of the kings princes and supreme leaders of the army of the blessed cross and to them only i render my errand ha sayest thou said the proud baron of orcs but no messenger of the kings and princes as thou mayest be no leech shall approach the sick-bed of richard of england without the consent of him of gillsland and they will come on evil errand who dare to intrude themselves against it he was turning loftily away when the scot placing himself closer and more opposite to him asked in a calm voice yet not without expressing his share of pride whether the lord of gillsland esteemed him a gentleman and a good knight or scots are ennobled by their birthright answer thomas de vorks something ironically but sensible of his own injustice and perceiving that kenneth's colour rose he added for a good knight it was sinned to doubt you in one at least who has seen you well and bravely discharged your devour well then said the scottish knight satisfied with the frankness of the last mission and let me swear to you thomas of gillsland that as i am a true scottish man which i hold a privilege equal to my ancient gentry and as sure as i am a belted knight and come hither to acquire l o s and fame in this mortal life and forgiveness of my sin in that which is to come so truly and by the blessed cross which i wear do i protest unto you that i desire but the safety of richard cour de leon in recommending the ministry of this moslem physician's open bracket l o s laos praise or renown close bracket the englishman was struck with the solemnity of the obtestation and answered with more cordiality than he had yet exhibited tell me sir knight of the leopard granting which i do not doubt that thou art thyself satisfied in this matter shall i do well in a land where thou

Starting point is 03:53:50 the art of poisoning is as general as that of cooking, to bring this unknown physician to practice with his drugs on a health so valuable to Christendom? My lord, replied the Scot, thus only can I reply, that my squire, the only one of my retinue whom war and disease had left in attendance on me, has been of late suffering dangerously under the same fever, which, in valiant King Richard, has disabled the principal limb of our holy enterprise this leech this el hakeem hath ministered remedies to him not two hours since and already he hath fallen into a refreshing sleep that he can cure the disorder which has proved so fatal i nothing doubt that he hath the purpose to do it is i think warranted by his mission from the royal sultan who is true-hearted and loyal so far as a blinded infidel may be called so and for his eventual success the certainty of reward in case of succeeding and punishment in case of voluntary failure may be a sufficient guarantee the englishman listened with downcast looks as one who doubted yet was not unwilling to receive conviction

Starting point is 03:55:06 at length he looked up and said may i see your sick squire fair sir the scottish knight hesitated and coloured yet answered at last willingly my lord of gilsland but you must remember when you see my poor quarter that the nobles and knights of scotland feed not so high sleep not so soft and care not for the magnificence of lodgment which is proper to their southern neighbours i am poorly lodged my lord of gillsland he added with a haughty emphasis on the word while with some unwillingless he led the way to his temporary place of abode whatever were the prejudices of devorques against the nation of his new acquaintance and though we undertake not to deny that some of these were excited by its proverbial poverty he had too much nobleness of disposition to enjoy the mortification of a brave individual thus compelled to make known wants which his pride would gladly have concealed shame to the soldier of the cross he said who thinks worldly splendor or a luxurious accommodation when pressing forward to the conquest of the holy city fair as hard as we may we shall yet be better than the host of martyrs and of saints who having trod these scenes before us now hold golden lamps and evergreen palms this was the most metaphorical speech which thomas of gillsland was ever known to utter the rather perhaps as will sometimes happen that it did not entirely express his own sentiments being somewhat a lover of good cheer and splendid accommodation by this time they reached the place of which the camp where the knight of the leopard had assumed his abode

Starting point is 03:57:00 appearances here did indeed promise no breach of the laws of mortification to which the crusaders according to the opinion expressed by him of gillsland ought to subject themselves a space of ground large enough to accommodate perhaps thirty tents according to the crusader's rules of castramentation was partly vacant because in ostentation the knight had demanded ground to the extent of his original retinue partly occupied by a few miserable huts hastily constructed of boughs and covered with palm leaves these habitations seemed entirely deserted and several of them were ruinous the central hut which represented the pavilion of the leader was distinguished by a shallow-tailed pennon placed on the point of a spear from which its long folds dropped motionless to the ground as if sickening under the scorching rays of the asiatic sun but no pages or squires not even a solitary warder were placed by the emblem of feudal power and knightly degree if its reputation defended it not from insult it had no other guard sir kenneth cast a melancholy look around him but suppressing his feelings entered the hut making a sign to the baron of gillsland to follow he also cast around a glance of examination which implied pity not altogether unmingled with contempt to which perhaps it is nearly akin as it is said to be to love he then stooped his lofty crest and ended a lowly hut which his bulky formed seemed almost entirely to fill the interior of the hut was chiefly occupied by two beds one was empty but composed of collected leaves and spread with an antelope's hide it seemed from the articles of our own

Starting point is 03:59:00 arm laid beside it and from a crucifix of silver carefully and reverentially disposed at the head to be the couch of the knight himself the other contained the invalid of whom sir kenneth had spoken a strong-built and harsh-featured man passed as his looks betokened the middle age of life his couch was trimmed more softly than his masters and it was plain that the more courtly garments of the latter the loose row in which the knights showed themselves on pacific occasions and the other little spare articles of dress and adornment had been applied by sir kenneth to the accommodation of his sick domestic in an outward part of the hut which was yet within the range of the english baron's eye a boy rudely attired with buskins of deer's hide a blue cap or bonnet and a doublet whose original finery was much tarnished sat on his knees by a chafing dish filled with charcoal cooking on his knees by a chafing dish filled with charcoal cooking on his cooking upon a plate of iron the cakes of barley bread which were then and still are a favorite food with the scottish people part of an antelope was suspended against one of the main props of the hut nor was it difficult to know how it had been procured for a large stag greyhound nobler in size and appearance than those even which guarded king richard's sick-bed lay eyeing the process of baking the cake the sagacious animal on their first entrance utterance uttered a stifled growl which sounded from his deep chest like distant thunder but he saw his master and acknowledged his presence by wagging his tail and couching his head abstaining from more tumultuous or noisy greeting as if his noble instinct had taught him the propriety of silence in a sick man's chamber besides the couch sat on a cushion also composed of skins the moorish physician of whom sir kenneth had spoken

Starting point is 04:01:05 cross-legged after the eastern fashion the imperfect light showed little of him save that the lower part of his face was covered with a long black beard which descended over his breast that he wore a high tulpac, a tartar cap of the lamb's wool, manufactured at Astrakhan, bearing the same dusky colour, and that his ample caftan or Turkish robe was also of a darkish hue. Two piercing eyes, which gleaned with unusual luster, were the only liniments of his visage that could be discerned amid the darkness in which he was enveloped. The English lord stood silent with a sort of reverential. awe for notwithstand in the roughness of his general bearing a scene of distress and poverty firmly endured without complaint or murmur would at any time have claimed more reverence from thomas de vaux than would all the splendid formalities of a royal presence chamber unless that presence chamber work in richard's own nothing was for a time heard but the heavy and regular breathings of the invalid who seemed in profound repose he hath not slept for six nights before said sir kenneth as i am assured by the youth his attendant noble scott said thomas de vorks grasping the scottish knight's hand with a pressure which had more of cordiality than he permitted his words to utter

Starting point is 04:02:39 this gear must be amended you are squires but too evil-fed and looked to in the latter part of this speech he naturally raised his voice to its usual a sided tone. The sick man was disturbed in his slumbers. My master, he said, murmuring is in a dream. Noble Sir Kenneth tastes not, to you as to me, the waters of the Clyde cold and refreshing, after the brackish springs of Palestine. He dreams of his native land and is happy in his slumbers, whispered Sir Kenneth to DeVorke's, but it scarce uttered the words when the first uttered the position arises from the place which he had taken near the couch of the sick and laying the hand of the patient whose pulse he had been carefully watching quietly upon the couch came to the two knights and taken them each by the arm while he intimated them to remain silent led them to the front of the hut in the name of isa ben marim he said whom we honour as you though not with the same blinded superstition disturb not the effect of the blessed medicine on which he he hath but taken to awaken him now his death or deprivation of reason but return at the hour when the mazin calls from the minot to evening prayer in the mosque and if left undisturbed until then

Starting point is 04:04:04 i promise you the same frankish soldier shall be able without prejudice to his health to hold some brief converse with you on any matter on which either and especially his master may have to question him the knights retreated before the authoritative commands of the leech who seemed fully to comprehend the importance of the eastern proverb that the sick-ch chamber of the patient is the kingdom of the physician they paused and remained standing together at the door of the hut sir kenneth with the air of one who expected his visitor to say farewell and divauch as if he had something on his mind which prevented him from doing so the hound however had been pressed out of the tent after them and now thrust his long rough countenance into the hand of his master as if modestly soliciting some mark of his kindness he had no sooner received the notice which he desired in the shape of a kind word and slight caress than eager to acknowledge his gratitude and joy for his master's return he flew off at full speed galloping in full career and with outstretched tail here and there about and around crossways in enlong through the decayed hats and the esplanade which we have described but never transgressing those precincts which its sagacity knew were protected by his master's pennon after a few gambols of this kind the dog coming close up to his master laid at once aside his frolicsome mood relapsed into his usual gravity and slowness of gesture and deportment and looked as if he were ashamed that anything should have moved him to depart so far out of his sober self-control both nights looked on with pleasure for sir kenneth was justly proud of his noble hound and the northern english baron was of course an admirer of the chase and a judge of the animal's merits a right able dog he said

Starting point is 04:06:09 i think fair sir king richard hath not an allan which may match him if you be as staunch as he is swift but let me pray you speaking in all honour and kindness have you not heard the proclamation that no one under the rank of earl shall keep hunting dogs within king richard's camp without the royal license which i think sir kenneth hath not been issued to you i speak as master of the horse and i answer as a free scottish knight said kenneth sternly for the present i follow the banner of england but i cannot remember that i have ever subjugated myself to the forest laws of that kingdom nor have i such respect for them as would incline me to do so when the trumpet sounds to arms my foot is in the stirrup as soon as any when it clangs for the charge my lance has not been the last laid in the rest but for my hours of liberty or of idleness King Richard has no title to bar my recreation. Nevertheless, said De Vox, it is a folly to disobey the king's audience. So, with your good leave,

Starting point is 04:07:21 I, as having authority in that matter, will send you a protection for my friend here. I thank you, said the Scott coldly, but he knows my lotted quarters, and within these I can protect him myself. And yet, he said suddenly changing his manner this is but a cold return for a well-meant kindness a thank you my lord most heartily the king's equerries or prickers might find roswell at disadvantage and do him some injury which i should not perhaps be slow in returning and so ill might come of it you have seen so much of my housekeeping my lord he added with a smile

Starting point is 04:08:04 that i need not shame to say that roswell is our principal purveyor and well i hope our lion richard will not be like the lion in the minstrel fable they went to hunting and kept the whole booty to himself i cannot think that he would grudge a poor gentleman who follows him faithfully his hour of sport and his morsel of game more especially when other food is hard enough to come by by my faith you do the king no more than justice and yet said the Baron. There is something in these words, Veer and venison, that turns the very brains of our Norman princes. We have heard of late, said the Scot, by minstrels and pilgrims,

Starting point is 04:08:49 that your outlawed yeomen have formed great bands in the shires of York and Nottingham, having at their head a most stout archer called Robin Hood, with his lieutenant Little John. Methinks it were better that Richard relaxed his forest code in England, than endeavour to informer. force it in the holy land wild work sir kenneth replied de vorks shrug in his shoulders as one who would avoid a perilous or unpleasing topic a mad world sir i must now bid you adieu having presently to return to the king's pavilion at vespers i will again with your leave visit your quarters and speak with this same infidel physician i would in the meantime were it no offence willingly send you what would somewhat mend your cheer

Starting point is 04:09:42 i thank you sir said sir kenneth but it needs not roswell have already stocked my larder for two weeks since the son of palestine if it brings disease serves also to dry venison the two warriors parted much better friends than they had met but ere they separated thomas de vaux informed himself at more length of the circumstances attending the mission of the eastern physician and received from the scottish knight the credentials which he had brought to king richard on the part of saladin end of chapter seven chapter eight of the talisman this is a librivox recording all the bravox recordings are in the public domain for more information on to the on to volunteer please visit librivox dot org recording by lizzie driver the talisman by sir walter scott chapter eight a wise physician skilled our wounds to heal is more than armies of the common wheel pope's iliad this is a strange tale sir thomas said the sick monarch when he had heard the report of the trusty baron of gillsland art thou sure this scottish man is a tall man and true i cannot say my lord replied the jealous borderer i live a little too near the scots to gather much truth among them having found them ever fair and false but this man's bearing is that of a true man were he a devil as well as a scot that i must need save for him in conscience and for his carriage as a knight how saith thou devauch'st demanded the king it is your majesty's business more than mine to note men's bearings and i warrant you have noted the manner in which this man of the leopard have borne himself he hath been full well spoken of and justly thomas said the king we have ourselves witnessed him it is indeed our purpose in placing ourselves ever in the front of battle to see how a liegemen and followers acquit themselves

Starting point is 04:12:07 and not from a desire to accumulate vain glory to ourselves as some have supposed we know the vanity of the praise of man which is but a vapour and to buckle on our armour for other purposes than to win it du vaux was alarmed when he heard the king make a declaration so inconsistent with his nature and believed at first that nothing short of the approach of death could have brought him to speak in depreciating terms of military renown which was the very breath of his nostrils but recollecting he had met the royal confessor in the outer pavilion he was shrewd enough to place his temporary self-abasement to the effect of the reverend man's lesson and suffered the king to proceed without reply yes continued richard i have indeed marked the manner in which this night does his devois my leading staff were not worth a fool's bobble had he escaped my notice and he had e'en now tasted of our bounty but that i have also marked his overweening an audacious presumption my liege said the baron of gillsland observing the king's countenance change i fear i have transgressed your pleasure in lending some countenance to his transgression how demulton thou said the king contracting his brows and speaking in the tone of angry surprise thou countenance his insolence it cannot be nay your majesty will pardon me to remind you that i have by mine office right to grant liberty to men of gentle blood to keep them a hound or two within camp just to cherish the noble art of venery and besides it were a sin to have maimed or harmed a thing so noble as this gentleman's dog has he then a dog so handsome said the king

Starting point is 04:14:00 a most perfect creature of heaven said the baron who was an enthusiast in field sports of the noblest northern breed deep in the chest strong in the stern black colour and brindled on the breasts and legs not spotted with white but just shaded into grey strength to pull down a bull swiftness to coat an antelope the king laughed at his enthusiasm well thou hast given him leave to keep the hound so there is an end of it "'Be not, however, liberal of your licences among those knights' adventurers, "'who have no prince or leader to depend upon. "'They are ungovernable and leave no game in Palestine. "'But to this piece of learned heatheness, "'sayest thou the Scot met him in the desert?' "'No, my liege.

Starting point is 04:14:52 "'The Scots tale runs thus. "'He was dispatched to the old hermit of Ngadi, "'of whom men talk so much. "'Sideth in hell! said richard starting up by whom despatched and for what who dared send any one thither when our queen was in the convent of ingadi upon a pilgrimage for our recovery the council of the crusade sent him my lord answer the baron of orcs for what purpose he declined to account to me i think it is scarce known in the camp that your royal consort is on a pilgrimage and even the princes may not have been aware as the queen's has been sequestered from company since your love prohibited her attendance in case of infection well it should be looked into said richard so this scottishman this envoy met with a wandering physician at the grotto of ingadi ha not so my liege replied but he met i think near that place with a saracen emir with whom he had some melee in the way of proof of valour and finding him worthy to bear brave men company they went together as errant knights-a-want to the grotto of ingadi

Starting point is 04:16:13 here de vork stopped for he was not one of those who can tell a long story in a sentence and did they there meet the physician demanded the king in page patiently no my liege replied de vorks but the saracen learning your majesty's grievous illness undertook that saladin should send his own physician to you and with many assurances of his eminent skill and he came to the grotto accordingly after the scottish knight had tarried a day for him and more he is attended as if you were a prince with drums and atabels and servants on horse and foot and brings with him letters of credence from saladin have they been examined by jacamo loridani i showed them to the interpreter ere bringing them hither and behold their contents in english richard took the scroll in which were inscribed these words the blessings of allah and his prophet mohammed out upon the hound said richard spitting in contempt by way of interjection saladin king of kings sultan of egypt and of syria the light and refuge of the earth to the great mellish rick richard of england greeting whereas we have been informed that the hand of sickness had been heavy upon thee our royal brother and that thou hast with thee only such nazarene and jewish mediciners as work without the blessing of allah and our holy prophet confusion on his head again muttered the english monarch we have therefore sent to tend and wait upon thee at this time the physician to our own person adonbeck el hakeem before whose face the angel asrael the angel of death spreads his wings and departs from the sick-chamber who knows the virtue of herbs and stones the path of the sun moon and stars and can save men from all that is not written on his forehead.

Starting point is 04:18:23 And this we do, praying you heartily to honour and make use of his skill. Not only that we may do service to thy worth and valour, which is the glory of all the nations of Fragistan, but that we may bring the controversy which is at present between us to an end, either by honourable agreement, or by open trial thereof with our weapons in a fair field. seeing that it neither becomes thy place and courage to die the death of a slave who hath been overwrought by his taskmaster nor befits it our fame that a brave adversary be snatched from our weapon by such a disease and therefore may the holy hold hold said richard i will have no more of his dog for a prophet it makes me sick to think the valiant and worthy sultan should believe in a dead dog yes i will see his position i will put myself into the charge of this heem i will repay the noble sultan his generosity

Starting point is 04:19:25 i will meet saladin in the field as he so worthily proposes and he shall have no cause to turn richard of england ungrateful i will strike him to the earth in my battle-axe i will convert him to the holy church with such blows as he has rarely endured he shall recant his errors before my good cross-handled sword and i will have him baptized on the battle-field from my own helmet though the cleansing waters were mixed with the blood of us both haste of aoraxe why dost thou delay a conclusion so pleasing fetch the achim hither my lord said the baron who perhaps saw some accession of fever in this overflow of confidence bethink you the sultan is a pagan and that you are his most formidable enemy for which reason he is more bound to do me service in this matter lest a paltry fever end the quarrel betwixt two such kings i tell that he loves me as i love him as noble adversaries each love each other by my honour it was sin to doubt his good faith nevertheless my lord it were well to wait the issue of these medicines upon the scottish squire said the lord of gillsland my own life depends upon it for worthy were i to die like a dog, did I proceed rashly in this matter, and make shipwreck of the wheel of Christendom? I never knew thee before hesitate for fear of life, said Richard, upbraidingly. Nor would I now, my liege, replied the stout-hearted baron.

Starting point is 04:21:01 Say that yours lies at pledge as well as my own. Well, thou suspicious mortal, answered Richard, begone then, and watched the progress of this remedy i could almost wish it might either cure or kill me for i am weary of lying here like an ox dying on the moran when timbers are beating horses stamping and trumpets sounding without the baron hastily departed resolved however to communicate his errand to some churchman as he felt something burdened in conscience at the idea of his master being attended by an unbeliever the archbishop of tyre was the first to whom he confirmed divided his doubts knowing his interest with his master richard who both loved and honoured the sagacious prelate the bishop heard the doubts which devorques stated with that acuteness of intelligence which distinguishes the roman catholic clergy the religious scruples of devorks he treated with as much lightness as propriety permitted him to exhibit on such a subject to a layman mediciners he said like the medicines which they employed were often useful, though the one were by birth or manners the vilest of humanity, as the others are in many cases, extracted from the basis materials.

Starting point is 04:22:26 Men may use the assistance of pagans and infidels, he continued, in their need, and there is reason to think that one cause of their being permitted to remain on earth is that they might minister to the convenience of true Christians. Thus we lawfully make slaves of heathenings, captives. Again, proceeded the prelate, there is no doubt that the primitive Christians used the services of the unconverted heathen. Thus, in the ship of Alexandria, in which the blessed Apostle Paul sailed to Italy, the sailors were doubtless pagans. Yet what said the Holy Saint when their ministry was needful? Nisi, he, Inawi, Mancerant, Wausalway, Fieri, Nuan, Potestis.

Starting point is 04:23:13 Unless these men abide in the ship, you cannot be saved. Again, Jews are infidels to Christianity, as well as Mohammedans, but there are few physicians in the camp excepting Jews, and such are employed without scandal or scruple. Therefore, Mohammedans may be used for their service in that capacity. Quad Irat Demonstradum This reasoning entirely removed the scruples of Thomas Devor. who was particularly moved by the Latin quotation, as he did not understand a word of it.

Starting point is 04:23:51 But the bishop proceeded with far less fluency when he considered the possibility of the Saracen's acting with bad faith, and here he came not to a speedy decision. The baron showed him the letters of credence. He read and reread them, and compared the original with the translation. It is a dish choicely good. cooked, he said, to the palate of King Richard, and I cannot but have my suspicions of the wily Saracen. They are curious in the art of poisons, and can so temper them, that they shall be weeks in acting upon the party, during which time the perpetrator has leisure to escape.

Starting point is 04:24:33 They can impregnate cloth and leather, nay, even paper and parchment, with the most subtle venom. Our lady forgive me. and wherefore knowing this hold i these letters of credence so close to my face take them sir thomas take them speedily here he gave them at arm's length and with some appearance of haste to the baron but come my lord of orcs he continued when we read to the tent of this sick squire where we shall learn whether this hakeem hath really the art of curing which he profess if ere we consider whether there be safety in permitting him to exercise his act to "'On King Richard. Yet hold. Let me first take my ponchant-box, for these fevers spread like an infection. I would advise you to use dried rosemary steeped in vinegar, my lord. I too know something of the healing art.' "'I thank your reverend lordship,' replied Thomas of Gillsland. But had I been accessible to the fever, I had caught it long since by the bed of my master.

Starting point is 04:25:40 the bishop of tyre blushed for he had rather avoided the presence of the sick monarch and he bid the baron lead on as they paused before the wretched hut in which kenneth of the leopard and his follower abode the bishop said to devorks now of a surety my lord these scottish knights have worse care for their followers than we of our dogs here is a knight valiant they say in battle and thought fitting to be graced with child of weight in time of truce whose esquire of the body is lodged worse than the worst kennel-dog in england what say you of your neighbours that a master doth well enough for his servant when he lodgeth him in no worse dwelling than his own said to vorks and entered the hut the bishop followed not without evident reluctance for though he lacked not courage in some respects yet it was tempered with a strong and lively regard for his own safety he recollected however the necessity there was for judging personally of the skill of the arabian physician and ended the hut with the stateliness of manner calculated as he thought to impose respect on the stranger the prelate was indeed a striking and commanding figure in his youth he had been eminently handsome and even in age was unwilling to appear less so his episcopal dress was of the richest fashion trimmed with costly fur, and surrounded by a cope of curious needlework. The rings on his fingers were worth a goodly barony,

Starting point is 04:27:24 and the hood which he wore, though now unclasped and thrown back for heat, had studs of pure gold to fasten it around his throat, and under his chin when he was so inclined. His long beard, now silvered with age, descended over his breast. One of two youthful acolykes who attended him, created an artificial shade peculiar then to the east by peering over his head an umbrella of palmetto leaves while the other refreshed his reverend master by agitating a fan of peacock feathers when the bishop of tyre entered the hut of the scottish knight the master was absent and the moorish physician whom he had come to see sat in the very posture in which devorks had left him several hours before cross-legged upon a mat made of twisted leaves by the side of the patient who appeared in deep slumber and whose pulse he felt from time to time

Starting point is 04:28:24 the bishop remained standing before him in silence for two or three minutes as if expecting some honourable salutation or at least that the saracen would seem struck with the dignity of his appearance but adombeck el hakeem took no notice of him beyond a passing glance and when the prelate at length saluted him in the lingua franca current in the country he only replied by the ordinary oriental greeting salam alecum peace be with you art thou a physician infidel said the bishop somewhat mortified at this cold reception i would speak with thee on that art if thou knewest aught of medicine answered el hakeem thou wouldst be aware that physicians hold no counsellor to in the sick-chamber of their patient. Here. He added, as the low growling of the stag-hound was heard from the inner hut. Even the dog might teach thee a lesson, Al-Matt. His instinct teaches him to suppress his barking in the sick man's hearing. Come without the tent, said he, rising and leading the way, if thou hast ought to say with me, not to stand in the plainness of the Saracen-leach's stress and his inferiority of size when contrasted with the tall prelate and gigantic English baron there was something striking in his manner and countenance which prevented the bishop of tyre from expressing strongly the displeasure he felt at this unceremonious rebuke when without the hut he gazed upon Adam Beck in silence for several minutes before he could fix on the best manner to renew the conversation no locks were seen in a

Starting point is 04:30:10 under the high bonnet of the Arabian, which hid also part of a brow that seemed lofty and expanded, smooth and free from wrinkles, as were his cheeks, when they were seen under the shade of his long beard. We have elsewhere noticed the piercing quality of his dark eyes. The prelate struck with his apparent youth, at length, broke a pause, which to the others seemed in no haste to interrupt, by demanding of the Arabian how old he was. The years of ordinary men, said Saracen, are counted by their wrinkles, those are sages by their studies.

Starting point is 04:30:50 I dare not call myself older than a hundred revolutions of the Higera. Open brackets, meaning that his attainments were those which might have been made in a hundred years. Close brackets. The Baron of Gilsland, who took this from, for a literal assertion that he was a century old, looked doubtably upon the prelate, who, though he better understood the meaning of El Haim, answered his glance by mysteriously shaking his head. He resumed an air of importance when he again authoritatively demanded

Starting point is 04:31:24 what evidence Adonbeck could produce of his medical proficiency. You have the words of the mighty Saladin, said the sage, touching his cap in sign of reverence. A word which was never broken, towards friend or foe what nazarene wouldst thou demand more i would have ocular proof of thy skill said the baron and without it thou approachest not to the couch of king richard the praise of the physician said the arabian is in the recovery of his patient behold this sergeant whose blood has been dried up by the fever which has whitened your camp with skeletons and against which the art of your nazarene leeches hath been like a silken doublet against a lance of steel look at his fingers and arms wasted like the claws and shanks of the crane death had this morning his clutch on him but had asrael been on one side of the couch i being on the other his soul should not have been left from his body disturb me not with further questions but await the critical minute and behold in silent wonder the marvellous event the physician had then recourse to his astrolabe the oracle of east and watching with grave precision until the precise time of the evening prayer had arrived he sunk on his knees with his face turned to mecca and recited the petitions which closed the moslelamas day of toil the bishop and the english baron looked on each other meanwhile with symptoms of contempt in england nation but neither judged it fit to interrupt el hakeem in his devotions unholy as they considered them to be

Starting point is 04:33:10 the arab arose from the earth on which he had prostrated himself and walking into the hut where the patient lay extended he drew a sponge from a small silver box dipped perhaps in some aromatic distillation for when he put it to the sleeper's nose he sneezed awoke and looked wildly around he was a ghastly spectacle as he sat up and was naked on his couch the bones and cartilages as visible through the surface of his skin as if they'd never been clothed with flesh his face was long and furrowed with wrinkles but his eye though it wondered at first became gradually more settled he seemed to be aware of the presence of his dignified visitors for he attempted feebly to pull the covering from his head in token of reverence as he inquired in a subdued and submissive voice for his master do you know us facile said the lord of gilsland not perfectly my lord replied the squire faintly my sleep has been long and full of dreams yet I know that you are a great English lord, as seemeth by the Red Cross, and this holy prelate, whose blessing I crave on me a poor sinner. Thou hast it.

Starting point is 04:34:33 Benedicto, Dominie, Sid for Biscum, said the prelate, making the sign of the cross, but without approaching nearer to the patient's bed. Your eyes witness, said the Arabian, the fever hath been subdued. He speaks with calmness and recollection. his pulse beats composedly as yours try its pulsations yourself the prelate declined the experiment but thomas of gillsland more determined on making the trial did so and satisfied himself that the fever was indeed gone this is most wonderful said the knight looking to the bishop the man is assuredly cured i must conduct this medicine of presently to kingrich's tent what thinks your reverence stay let me finish one cure ere i commence another said the arab i will pass with you when i have given my patient the second cup of this most holy elixir so saying he pulled out a silver cup and filling it with water from a gourd which stood by the bedside he next drew forth a small silken bag made of net-work twisted with silver the contents of which the bystanders could not discover and immersing it into the cup continued to watch in silence

Starting point is 04:35:54 during the space of five minutes. It seemed to the spectators, as if some effervescence took place during the operation. But if so, it instantly subdued. Drink, said the physician to the sick man, sleep and awaken free from malady. And with this simple, seeming draft, thou wilt undertake to cure a monarch,

Starting point is 04:36:20 said the bishop of Tyre. I have cured a beggar as you may behold. replied the sage are the kings of fragustar may devour the clay than the meanest of their subjects let us have him presently to the king said the baron of gillsland he hath shown that he possesses the secret which may restore his health if he fails to exercise it i will put himself past the power of medicine as they were about to leave the hut the sick man raising his voice as much as his weakness permitted exclaimed reverend reverend "'Reverand father, noble knight, and you, you kind leech, "'if you were to have me sleep and recover, "'tell me in charity what is become of my dear master?' "'He is upon a distant expedition, friend,' replied the prelate,

Starting point is 04:37:11 "'on an honourable embassy, which may detain him for some days.' "'Nay,' said the Baron of Gilsland, "'why deceive the poor fellow?' "'Friend, thy master has returned to the camp, and you will presently see him the invalid held up as if in thankfulness his wasted hands to heaven and resisting no longer the soporiferous operation of the elyxer sunk down into a gentle sleep you are a better physician than i sir thomas said the prelate a soothing falsehood is fitter for a sick-room than an unpleasing truth how mean you my reverend lord said devorke's hastily think you i would tell a falsehood to save the lives of a dozen such as he you said replied the bishop with manifest symptoms of alarm you said the esquire's master was returned he i mean of the croissant leopard "'And he is returned,' said De Vaux.

Starting point is 04:38:18 "'I spoke with him but a few hours since. "'This learned Leech came in his company. "'Holy Virgin, why told you not of his return to me?' "'said the bishop, in evident perturbation.' "'Did I not say that this same knight of the leopard "'had returned in company with the physician?' "'I thought I had,' replied De Vauks carelessly. "'But what signified his return to the skill of the physician?

Starting point is 04:38:44 or the cure of his majesty. Much, Sir Thomas, it signified much, said the bishop, clenching his hands, pressing his foot against the earth, and giving signs of impatience, as if in an involuntary manner. But where can he be gone now, this same night? God be with us, here may be some fatal errors.

Starting point is 04:39:08 Yonder surf in the outer space, said to Vorks, not without wonder at the bishop's emotion, can probably tell us whither his master is gone the lad was summoned and in a language nearly incomprehensible to them gave them at length to understand that an officer had summoned his master to the royal tent some time before their arrival at that of his master the anxiety of the bishop appeared to rise to the highest and became evident to devorques though neither an acute observer nor of a suspicious temper but with his anxiety seemed to increase his wish to keep it subdued and unobserved he took a hasty leave of devorks who looked after him with astonishment and after shrug in his shoulders in silent wonder proceeded to conduct the arabian physician to the tent of king richard end of chapter eight chapter nine of the talisman this is the librivox recording all the bravox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit librivox dot org recording by lizzie driver the talisman by sir walter scott chapter nine this is the prince of leeches fever plague cold room and hot poda gara do but look at on him and quit their grasp upon the tortured sinews.

Starting point is 04:40:41 Anonymous. The Baron of Gilsland walked with slow step and an anxious countenance towards the Royal Pavilion. He had much diffidence of his own capacity, except in a field of battle, and conscious of no very acute intellect, was usually contented to wander at circumstances which a man of lively imagination would have endeavoured to investigate and understand, or at least would have made the subject of speculation. But it seemed very extraordinary, even to him, that the attention of the bishop should have been at once abstracted from all reflection on the marvellous cure which they had witnessed, and upon the probability it afforded of Richard being restored to health,

Starting point is 04:41:26 by what seemed a very trivial piece of information, announcing the motions of a beggarly Scottish knight, then whom Thomas of Gillsland knew nothing within the circle of gentle blood, more unimportant or contemptible and despite his usual habit of passively beholding passing events the baron's spirit toiled with unwonted attempts to form conjectures on the cause at length the idea it once occurred to him that the whole might be a conspiracy against king richard formed within the camp of the allies and to which the bishop who was by some represented as a politic and unscrupulous person was not unlike to have been an accessory it was true that in his own opinion there existed no characters so perfect as that of his master for richard being the flower of chivalry and the chief of christian leaders and obeying in all points the commands of holy church to vaux's ideas of perfection went no further still he knew that however unworthily it had always been his master's fate to draw as much reproach and dislike as honour and attachment from the display of his great qualities and that in the very camp and amongst these princes bound by oath to the crusade were many who would have sacrificed all hope of victory over the saracens to the pleasure of ruining or at least of humbling richard of england

Starting point is 04:42:58 wherefore said the baron to himself it is in no sense impossible that this el hakeem with this his cure or seeming cure wrought on the body of the scottish squire may mean nothing but a trick to which he of the leopard may be accessory and wherein the bishop of tyre prelate as he is may have some share this hypothesis indeed could not be so easily reconciled with the alarm manifested by the bishop on learning that contrary to his expectation the scottish knight had suddenly returned to the crusaders camp but de vorks was influenced only by his general prejudices which dictated to him the assured to believe that a wily italian priest a false-hearted scott and an infidel physician formed a set of ingredients from which all evil and no good was likely to be extracted he resolved however to lay his scruples bluntly before the king of whose judgment he had nearly as high opinion as of his valour meanwhile events had taken place very contrary to the suppositions which thomas de vorks had entertained scarce had he left the royal pavilion when betwixt the impatience of the fever and that which was natural to his disposition richard began to murmur at his delay and express an earnest desire for his return he had seen enough to try to reason himself out of this irritation which greatly increased his bodily malady he wearied his attendance by demanding from them amusements and the brevery of the priest the romance of the clerk even the harp of his favorite minestrel were had recourse to in vain at length some two hours before sundown

Starting point is 04:44:54 and long therefore ere he could expect a satisfactory account of the process of the cure which the moor or arabian had undertaken he sent as we have already heard a messenger commanding the attendants of the night of the leopard determined to soothe his impatience by obtaining from sir kenneth a more particular account of the cause of his absence from the camp and the circumstances of his meeting with this celebrated physician the scottish knight thus summoned entered the royal presence as one who was no stranger to such scenes he was scarcely known to the king of england even by sight although tenacious of his rank as devout in the adoration of the lady of his secret heart he had never been absent on those occasions when the munificence and hospitality of england opened the court of its monarch to all who held a certain rank in chivalry the king gazed fixedly on sir kenneth approaching his bedside while the knight bent his knee for a moment then arose and stood before him in a posture of deference but not of subverson's or humility as became an officer in the presence of his sovereign thy name said the king is kenneth of the leopard from whom hast thou degree of knighthood i took it from the sword of william the lion king of scotland replied the scot a weapon said the king well worthy to confer honour nor has it been laid in an undeserving shoulder we have seen thee bear thyself knightly and valiantly impress a battle when most need there was and thou had not been yet to learn that thy deserts were known to us but that thy presumption in other points has been such that thy services can challenge no better reward than that of pardon for thy transgression what sayest thou huh

Starting point is 04:46:51 kenneth attempted to speak but was unable to express himself distinctly the consciousness of his too ambitious love and the keen falcon glance with which the cordialion seemed to penetrate his innermost soul combined to disconcerted, him. And yet, said the king, although soldiers should obey command, and facels be respectful towards their superiors, we might forgive a brave knight greater offence than the keeping a simple hound, though it were contrary to our express public ordinance. Richard kept his eye fixed on the Scots face, they held and beholding, smiling inwardly at the relief produced by the turn he had given to his general accusation. So please you might be able to my lord said the scot your majesty must be good to us poor gentlemen of scotland in this matter we are far from home scant of revenues and cannot support ourselves as your wealthy nobles who have credited the lombards the saracen shall feel our blows the harder that we eat a piece of dried venison from time to time with our herbs and barley cakes its skills not ask him i leave said richard since thomas de vorks who doth like all around

Starting point is 04:48:08 me that which is fittest in his own eye hath already given thee permission for hunting and hawking for hunting only and please you said the scott but if it please your majesty to indulge me with the privilege of hawking also and you lest to trust me with a falcon on fist i trust i could supply your royal mess with some choice waterfowl i dread me if thou hast but the falcon said the king thou would scarce wait for the permission i wot well it is said-well it is said said abroad that we of the line of Anjou resent offence against our forest laws as highly as we would do treason against our crown to brave and worthy men however we could pardon either misdemeanour but enough at this i desire to know of you sir knight wherefore and by whose authority you took this recent journey to the wilderness of the dead sea and in gaddy by order replied the knight of the council of princes of the holy crusade and how dared any one give such an order when i not the least surely in the league was unacquainted with it it was not my part please your highness said the scott to inquire into such particulars i am a soldier of the cross serving doubtless for the present under your highness's banner and proud of the permission to do so but still one who has taken on him the holy symbol for the rights of christianity and the recovery of the holy sepulchre and bound therefore to obey without question the order of the princes and chiefs by whom the blessed enterprise is directed that indisposition should seclude i trust for but a short time your highness from their counsels in which you hold so potential a voice i must lament with all christiandom but as a soldier i must obey those who may be those on whom the lawful right of command evolves, or set but an evil example in the Christian camp.

Starting point is 04:50:09 Thou sayest well, said King Richard, and the blame rest not with thee, but with those with whom, when it shall please heaven to rise me from this accursed bit of pain and inactivity, I hope to reckon roundly. What was the purport of thy message? Methinks and please your highness, replied Sir Kenneth, that were best asked of those who sent me,

Starting point is 04:50:32 and who can render the reasons of mine errand whereas i can only tell its outward form and purport paltar not with me siscot it were ill for thy safety said the irritable monarch my safety my lord replied the knight firmly i cast behind me as a regardless thing when i vowed myself to his enterprise looking rather to my immortal welfare than to that which concerns my earthly body by the mass said king richard thou art a brave fellow hark thee sir knight i love the scottish people they are hardy though dogged and stubborn and i think true men in the main though the necessity of state has sometimes constrained them to be dissemblers i deserve some love at their hand for i have voluntarily done what they could not by arms have exhorted from me any more than from my predecessors i have re-established the fortress of roxburgh and berwick which lay in pled to england i have restored your ancient boundaries and finally i have renounced a claim to homage upon the crown of england which i thought unjustly forced upon you i have endeavoured to make honourable and independent friends where former kings of england attempted only to compel unwilling and rebellious vassals. All this you have done, my lord, king, said Sir Kenneth, bowing.

Starting point is 04:51:56 All this you have done, by your royal treaty with our sovereign at Canterbury. Therefore have you me, and many better Scottish men, making war against the infidels under your banner, who had also been ravaging your frontiers in England. If their numbers are now few, it is because their lives have been freely waged and wasted.

Starting point is 04:52:16 I grant it is true, said the king, and for the good offices I have done in your land, I require you to remember that, as a principal member of the Christian League, I have a right to know the negotiations of my confederates. Do me, therefore, the justice to tell me what I have a title to be acquainted with, and which I am certain to know more truly from you than from others. My lord, said the Scot, thus conjured I will speak the truth, for I well believe that your purposes towards the principal object of our expedition

Starting point is 04:52:48 are single-hearted and honest, and it is more than I dare warrant for others of the Holy League. Be pleased, therefore, to know my charge was to propose, through the medium of the hermit of Ngadi, a holy man respected and protected by Saladin himself. A continuation of the truce, I doubt not, said Richard, hastily interrupting him. No, by St. Andrew, my liege, said the Scottish knight, but the establishment of a lasting peace and the withdrawing of our armies from Palestine. St. George, said Richard in astonishment, ill as I have justly thought of them, I could not have dreamed they would have humbled themselves to such dishonour.

Starting point is 04:53:35 Speak, Sir Kenneth. With what will did you carry such a message? With right goodwill, my lord, said Kenneth, because, when we had lost our noble leader, and to whose guidance alone I hoped for victory, I saw none who could succeed him, likely to lead us to conquest, and I accounted it well in such circumstances to avoid defeat. "'And on what conditions was his hopeful peace to be contracted?' said King Richard, painfully suppressing the passion with which his heart was almost bursting. "'These were not entrusted to me, my lord,' answer the knight of the Croissant leopard. I delivered them seal to the hermit.

Starting point is 04:54:17 "'And for what hold you this reverend hermit? "'For fool, madman, traitor, or saint,' said Richard. "'His folly, sire,' replied the shrewd Scottishman. "'I hold to be assumed to win favour and reverence from the Pynamere, "'who regard madmen as the inspired of heaven. "'At least it seemed to me as exhibited only occasionally, "'and not as mixing, like natural folly, "'with the general tenor of his mind.'

Starting point is 04:54:47 shrewdly replied said the monarch throwing himself back on his couch from which he had half raised himself now of his penitence his penitence continued kenneth appears to me sincere and the fruits of remorse for some dreadful crime for which he seems in his own opinion condemned to reprobation and for his policy said king richard methinks my lord said the scottish knight he despairs of the security of palestine as of his own salvation by any means short of a miracle at least since the arm of richard of england has ceased to strike for it and therefore the coward policy of this hermit is like that of these miserable princes who forgetful of their knighthood and their faith are only resolved and determined when the question is retreat and rather than go forward against an armed saracen would trample in their flight over a dying ally might i so far presume my lord king said the scottish knight this discourse but heats your disease the enemy from which christiandom dreads more evil than from armed hosts of infidels the countenance of king richard was indeed more flushed and his action became more feverishly vehement as with clenched hand extended arm and flashing eyes he seemed at once to suffer under bodily pain and at the same time under vexation of mind while his high spirit led him to speak on as if in contempt of both you can flatter sir knight he said but you escape me not i must know more from you than you have yet told me saw you my royal consort when at ingadi to my knowledge no my lord replied sir kenneth with considerable perturbation for he remembered the midnight procession in the chapel of the rocks i ask you said the king's

Starting point is 04:56:53 said the king in a sterner voice whether you were not in the chapel of the carmelite nuns at ingadi and there saw bernengaria queen of england and the ladies of her court who went thither on pilgrimage my lord said sir kenneth i will speak the truth as in the confessional in the subterranean chapel to which the anchorite conducted me i beheld a choir of ladies do homage to a relic of the highest sanctity but as i saw not their faces nor her heard their voices, unless in the hymns which they chanted, I cannot tell whether the Queen of England was of the bevy. And was there no one of these ladies known to you? Sir Kenneth stood silent. I ask you, said Richard, raising himself on his elbow, as a knight and a gentleman, and I shall know by your answer how you value either character. Did you, or did you not, know any lady amongst that band of worshippers?

Starting point is 04:57:53 my lord said kenneth not without much hesitation i might guess and i also may guess said the king frowning sternly but it is enough leopard as you are sir knight beware tempting the lion's paw hark ye to become enamoured of the moon would be but an act of folly but to leap from the battlements of a lofty tower in the wild hope of coming within a sphere was self-destructive madness. At this moment some bustling was heard in the outer apartment. And the king, hastily changing to his more natural manner, said, Enough, be gone, speed to divorce, and send him hither with the Arabian physician. My life for the faith of the Saldan. Would he but abjure his false law, I would aid him with my sword to drive the scum of French and Austrians from his dominions,

Starting point is 04:58:50 and think Palestine as well ruled by him, as when her husband. her kings were anointed by the decree of heaven itself the knight of the leopard retired and presently afterwards sir chamberlain announced a deputation from the council who had come to wait on the majesty of england it is well they allow the time living yet was his reply who are the reverend ambassadors grand master of the templars and the marquess of montserrat our brother of france loves not sick beds said Richard. Yet, had Philip been ill, I had stood by his couch long since. Jocelyn, lay me the couch more fairly. It is tumbled like a stormy sea. Reach me on to steel mirror, pass a comb through my hair and beard. They look indeed like a lion's mane, then a Christian man's locks. Bring water. My lord, said the trembling chamberlain. The leech is so that cold water may be fatal.

Starting point is 04:59:51 to the foul fiend with the leeches, replied the monarch. If they cannot cure me, think you I will allow them to torment me? There, then, he said, after having made his abulsions, admit the worshipful envoys, they will now, I think, scarcely see that the disease has made Richard negligent of his person. The celebrated master of the Templars was a tall, thin, war-worn man, with a slow yet penetrating eye, and a brow in which a thousand dark intrigues had stamped a portion of their obscurity, at the head of that singular body, to whom their order was everything, and their individuality nothing, seeking the advancement of its power, even at the hazard of that very

Starting point is 05:00:40 religion which the fraternity were originally associated to protect, accused of heresy and witchcraft, although by their character Christian priests, suspected of secretly league with the sultan though by oath devoted to the protection of the holy temple or its recovery the whole order and the whole personal character of its commander or grandmaster was a riddle at the exposition of which most men shuddered the grand master was dressed in his white robes of solemnity and he bore the abacus a mystic staff of office the peculiar form of which has given rise to such singular conjectures and commentaries, leading to suspicions that this celebrated fraternity of Christianites were embodied under the foulest symbols of paganism. Conrad of Montserrat had a much more pleasing exterior than the dark and mysterious priest-soldier by whom he was accompanied. He was a handsome man of middle age, or something past that term, bold in the field, sagacious in counsel, gay and gallant in times

Starting point is 05:01:51 of festivity. But on the other hand, he was generally accused of versatility, of a narrow and selfish ambition, of a desire to extend his own principality, without regard to the wheel of the Latin kingdom of Palestine, and of seeking his own interest by private negotiations with Saladin to the prejudice of the Christian legures. When the usual salutations had been made by these dignitaries, and courteously returned by King Richard. The Marquess of Montserrat commenced an explanation of the motives of their visit, sent, as he said they were, by the anxious kings and princes, who composed the Council of the Crusaders,

Starting point is 05:02:36 to inquire into the health of the magnanimous ally, the valiant king of England. We know the importance in which the princes of the Council hold our health, replied the English king, and are well aware how much they must have suffered by suppressing all curiosity concerning it for fourteen days. For fear, doubtless of aggravating our disorder, by showing their anxiety regarding the event. The flow of the Marquesse's eloquence being checked, and he himself thrown into some confusion by this reply. His more austere companion took up the thread of the conversation,

Starting point is 05:03:13 and with as much dry and brief gravity as was consistent with the presence which he addressed, informed the king that they came from the council to pray in the name of christiandom, that he would not suffer his health to be tempered with by an infidel physician, said to be dispatched by Saladin, until the council had taken measures to remove or confirm the suspicion, which they at present conceived and attach itself to the mission of such a person, Grand master of the holy and valiant order of knights Templars, and you, most noble Marquess of Montserrat,

Starting point is 05:03:48 replied Richard. If it please you to retire into the adjoining pavilion, you shall presently see what account we make of the tender remonstrances of our royal and princely colleagues in his religious warfare. The Marquess and Grand Master retired accordingly. Nor had they been many minutes in the outward pavilion when the eastern physician arrived, accompanied by the Baron of Gillsland and Kenneth of Scotland. The Baron, however, was a little later of entering the tenets. than the other two, stopping, perchance, to issue some orders to the warders without. As the Arabian physician entered, he made his abasance, after the oriental fashion, to the marquess and grandmaster, whose dignity was apparent, both from their appearance and their bearing.

Starting point is 05:04:43 The grandmaster returned the salutation with an expression of disdainful coldness. The marquess with the popular courtesy which he habitually practised, to men of every rank and nation. There was a pause, for the Scottish knight, waiting for the arrival of De Vorks, presumed not, of his own authority,

Starting point is 05:05:05 to enter the tent of the king of England. And during this interval the Grandmaster sternly demanded of the Muslim. Infidel, has thou the courage to practice thine art upon the person of an anointed sovereign of the Christian host? The son of Allah, answered the sage, shines on the Nazarene as well as on the true believer,

Starting point is 05:05:26 and his servant dare make no distinction betwixt them, when called on to exercise the art of healing. Misbelieving Hakeem, said the Grandmaster, or whatsoever they call thee for an unbaptised slave of darkness, does thou well know that thou shalt be torn asunder by wild horses, should King Richard die under thy charge? That were a hard justice, answered the physician. seeing that I can but use human means, and that the issue is written in the book of light.

Starting point is 05:05:58 Nay, Reverend and valiant Grandmaster. So the Marquess of Montserrat, Consider that this learned man is not acquainted with our Christian order, adopted into the fear of God, and for the safety of his anointed. Be it known to thee, great physician, whose skill we doubt not, that your wiser course is to repair to the presence of the illustrious council of our Holy League, and there to give account and reckoning to such wise and learned leeches as they shall nominate concerning your means of process and cure of this illustrious patient so shall you escape all the danger which rashly take in such a high matter upon your sole answer you may else most likely incur my lords said el hakeem i understand you well but knowledge hath its champions as well as your military art nay hath sometimes had its martyrs as well as religion

Starting point is 05:06:52 I have the command of my sovereign, the Saldan Saladin, to heal this Nazarene king, and, with the blessing of the prophet, I will obey his commands. If I fail, ye wear swords thirsting for the blood or the faithful, and I prefer my body to your weapons. But I will not reason with one uncircised upon the virtue of the medicines of which I have obtained knowledge through the grace of the prophet, and I pray you interpose no delay between me and my office. who talks of delay said the baron du vaux hastily entering the tent we have had but too much already i salute you my lord of montserrat and you valiant grandmaster

Starting point is 05:07:38 but i must presently pass with this learned physician to the bedside of my master my lord said the marquess in norman french or in the language of we as it was then called are you well advised that we come to expostulate on the part of the council of the monarchs and princes of the crusade against the risk of permitting an infidel and eastern physician to temper with the health so valuable as that of your master king richard noble lord marquess replied the englishman bluntly i can neither use many words nor do i delight in listening to them moreover i am much more ready to believe what my eyes have seen than that i can neither use many words nor do i delight in listening to them moreover i am much more ready to believe what my eyes have seen than in what my ears have heard. I am satisfied that this heathen can cure the sickness of King Richard, and I believe and trust he will labour to do so. Time is precious. If Muhammad, may God's curse be on him,

Starting point is 05:08:37 stood at the door of the tent, with such fair purpose as this Adam Beck El Hakeem entertains, I would hold its sin to delay him for a minute. So give you Godend, my lords. Nay, but, said Conrad of Montserrat, the king himself said we should be present when this same physician dealt upon him the baron whispered the chamberlain probably to know whether the marquess spoke truly and then replied my lords if you will hold your patience you are welcome to enter with us but if you interrupt by action or threat this accomplished physician in his duty be it known that without respect to your high quality i will enforce your absentee from Richard's tent. For no, I am so well satisfied of the virtue of this man's medicines,

Starting point is 05:09:29 that were Richard himself to refuse them. By our Lady of Lanecost, I think I could find it in my heart to force him to take the means of his cure, whether he would or no. Move on, would El Hakeem. The last word was spoken in the lingua franca, and instantly obeyed by the physician. The Grandmaster looked grimly, on the unceremonious old soldier. Bert, on exchanging a glance with the Marquess, smoothed his frowning brow as well as he could, and both followed De Vox and the Arabian into the inner tent,

Starting point is 05:10:07 where Richard lay expecting them. With that impatience with which the sick man watched the step of his physician, Sir Kenneth, whose attendant seemed neither asked nor prohibited, felt himself, by the circumstances in which he stood, entitled to follow these high dignitaries. But, conscious of his inferior power and rank, remained aloof during the scene which took place. Richard, when they entered his apartment,

Starting point is 05:10:37 immediately exclaimed, So ho, a goodly fellowship come to see Richard take his leap into the dark. My noble allies, I greet you as the representatives of our assembled league. Richard will again be amongst you in his former fashion, or you shall bear to the grave what is left of him. Divorx, lives he or dies he, though has the thanks of thy prince. There is yet another, but this fever hath wasted my eyesight. What, the bold scot, who would climb heaven without a ladder?

Starting point is 05:11:09 He is welcome to. Come, Sir Hakeem, to the work. The physician, who had already informed himself of the various symptoms of the king's illness, now felt his pulse for a long time, and with deep attention, while all around stood silent and in breathless expectation. The sage-necks filled a cup with spring-water, and dipped into it the small red purse, which, as formerly, he took from his bosom. When he seemed to think it sufficiently medicated, he was about to offer it to the sovereign, who prevented him by saying, hold an instant thou hast felt my pulse let me lay my finger on thine i too as becomes a good knight know something of thine art the arabian yielded his hand without hesitation and his long slender dark fingers were for an instant enclosed and almost buried in the large enfoldment of king richard's hand

Starting point is 05:12:14 his blood beats as calm as an infant's said the king so throbbeds not theirs who poison princes. Divorques, whether we live or die, dismiss this Akeem with honour and safety. Command us, friend, to the noble Saladin. Should I die, it is without doubt of his faith. Should I live, it would be to thank him as a warrior would desire to be thanked.

Starting point is 05:12:40 He then raised himself in bed, took the cup in his hand, and turning to the Marquess and the Grand Master. Mark what I say, and let my royal brethren pledge me in Cyprus. wine, to the immortal honour of the first crusader who shall strike lance or sword on the gate of Jerusalem, and to the shame and internal infamy of whomsoever shall turn back from the plough on which he hath laid his hand. He drank the cup to the bottom, resigned it to the Arabian, and sunk back as if exhausted,

Starting point is 05:13:11 upon the cushions which were arranged to receive him. The physician then, with silent but expressive signs directed that all should leave the tent, accepting himself and of Orcs, whom no remonstrance could induce to withdraw. The apartment was cleared accordingly. End of Chapter 9. Chapter 10 of the Talisman. This is the Librevox recording. All Librevox recordings are in the public domain. For more informational to volunteer, please visit Librevox.org. According by Lizzie Driver. by Sir Walter Scott. Chapter 10. And now I will unclasp a secret book. And to your quick conceiving discontent, I'll read you matter deep and dangerous. Henry IV. The Marquess of Montserrat, and the Grandmaster of the Knights Templars, stood together in the front of the Royal Pavilion,

Starting point is 05:14:25 within which this singular scene had passed, and beheld a strong guard of bills and bows drawn out from a circle around it, and keep at a distance all which might disturb the sleeping monarch. The soldiers wore the downcast silent and sudden looks, with which they trail their arms at a funeral, and stepped with such caution that you could not hear a buckler ring or a sword clatter, though so many men in armour were moving around the tent. They lowered their weapons in deep reverence, as the dignitaries passed through their files, but with the same profound silence. There is a change of cheer among these island dogs, said the grandmaster to Conrad,

Starting point is 05:15:09 when they had passed Richard's guards. What horse to malt and revel used to be before this pavilion? Nought but pitching the bar, hurling the ball, wrestling, roaring of songs, clattering of wine-pots, and quaffing of flagons among these burly yeomen, as if they were holding some country wake, with a maypole in the midst of them, instead of a royal standard. mastiffs are a faithful race said conrad and the king their master has won their love by being ready to wrestle brawl or revel amongst the foremost of them whenever the humor seized him he is totally compounded of humours said the grand master marked you the pledge he gave us instead of a prayer over his grace-cup yonder he would have felted a grace-cup and a well-spiced one too said the marquess were Saladin like any other Turk that ever wore turban, or turned him to Mecca at call of the Mazin.

Starting point is 05:16:08 But he affects faith and honour and generosity, as if it were for an unbaptised dog like him, to practise the virtuous bearing of a Christian knight. It is said he have applied to Richard to be admitted with the pale of chivalry. By St Bernard, exclaimed the Grandmaster, it were time to throw off our belts and spurs, Sir Conrad, deface our immoral bearings. and renounce our bergenettes if the highest honour of christianity were conferred on an unchristian turk of tenpence you rate the soldan cheap replied the marquess yet though he be a likely man i have seen a better he than sold for fortypence at the bagneo they were now near their horses which stood at some distance from the royal tent prancing among the gallant train of esquires and pages by whom they were attended when conrad

Starting point is 05:17:01 after a moment's pause, propose that they should enjoy the coolness of the evening breeze which had arisen, and, dismissing their steeds in attendance, walked homewards to their own quarters, through the lines of the extended Christian camp. The Grandmaster assented, and they proceeded to walk together accordingly, avoiding, as if by mutual consent, the more inhabited parts of the canvas city, and tracing the broad esplanade, which lay between the tents and the external defences, where they could converse in private and unmarked, saved by the sentinels as they passed them. They spoke for a time upon the military points and preparations for defence. But this sort of discourse, in which neither seemed to take interest, at length, died away,

Starting point is 05:17:51 and there was a long pause, which terminated by the Marquess of Montserrat, stopping short, like a man who has formed a sudden resolution, and gazing for some moments on the dark, inflexible countenance of the great, grand master, he at length addressed him thus. Might it consist with your valour and sanctity, Reverend Sir Charles Amory, I would pray you for once to lay aside the dark visor which you wear, and to converse with a friend barefaced.

Starting point is 05:18:19 The Templar half smiled. There are light-coloured masks, he said, as well as dark visors, and the one conceals the natural features as completely as the other. Be it so. said the marquess, putting his hand to his chin, and withdrawing it with the action of one who amasks himself. There lies my disguise. And now, what think you, as touching the interests of your own order, of the prospects of this crusade? This is tearing the veil from my own thoughts, rather than exposing your own,

Starting point is 05:18:55 said the Grandmaster. Yet I will reply with a parable told me by a santon of the desert. A certain farmer prayed to heaven for rain, and murmured when it fell not as his need. To punish his patience, Allah, said the Santon, sent the Euphrates upon his farm, and he was destroyed, with all his possessions, even by the granting of his own wishes. Most truly spoken, said the Marquez Conrad. Would that the ocean had swallowed up nineteen parts of the armament of these western princes? What remained would we better have served the purpose of the Christian nobles of Palestine, the wretched remnant of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem. Left to ourselves, we might have bent to the storm,

Starting point is 05:19:44 or moderately supported with money and troops, we might have compelled Saladin to respect our valor, and grant us peace and protection on easy terms. But from the extremity of danger with which this powerful crusade threatens the Sultan, we cannot suppose, should it pass over, that the Saracen will suffer any one of us to hold possessions or principalities in Syria, far less permit the existence of the Christian military fraternities, from whom they have experienced so much mischief.

Starting point is 05:20:14 I, but, said the Templar, these adventurous crusaders may succeed, and again plant the cross on the bulwarks of Zion. And what will that advantage, either the order of the Templars, or Conrad of Montserrat, said the Marquess. You, it may advantage, replied the Grand Master. Conrad of Montserrat might become Conrad, king of Jerusalem. That sounds like something, said the Marquess.

Starting point is 05:20:48 And yet it rings but hollow. Godreur Bouillon might well choose the crown of thorns for his emblem. Grandmaster, I will confess to you, I have caught some attachment to the east, and form of government a pure and simple monarchy should consist but of kings and subjects such is the simple and primitive structure a shepherd in his flock all this internal chain of feudal dependence is artificial and sophisticated and i would rather hold the baton of my poor marquessat with a firm grip and wield it after my pleasure than the sceptre of a monarch to be in effect restrained and curved by the will of as many proud feudal barons as hold the land under the Acese of Jerusalem. Open bracket. The Acese D. Jerusalem were the digest of feudal law,

Starting point is 05:21:40 composed by Godfrey or Boulogne from the government of the Latin Kingdom of Palestine, when we conquered from the Saracens. It was composed with advice of the patriarch and barons, the clergy and laity, and is, says the historian Gibbon, a precious monument of feudatory jurisprudence, founded upon those principles of freedom which were essential to the system close bracket a king should tread freely grand master and should not be controlled by here a ditch and their offence here a feudal privilege and there a male-clad baron with his sword in his hand to maintain it to sum the whole i am aware that guy de lucigand's claims to the throne would be preferred to mine if ritter recovers and has ought to say in the choice enough, said the Grand Master,

Starting point is 05:22:34 thou hast indeed convinced me of thy sincerity. Others may hold the same opinions. But few, save Conrad and Montserrat, dared frankly avow that he desires not the restitution of the kingdom of Jerusalem, but rather prefers being master of a portion of its fragments. Like the barbarous islanders, who labour not for the deliverance of a goodly vessel from the billows, expecting rather to enrich themselves at the expense of the wreck.

Starting point is 05:23:00 "'Thou will not betray my counsel?' said Conrad, looking sharply and suspiciously. "'No, for certain, that my tongue shall never wrong my head, nor my hand forsake the defence of either. "'Impeat me if thou wilt. I am prepared to defend myself in the list against the best Templar, "'whoever laid Lance in rest. Yet thou start somewhat suddenly for so bold a steed,' said the Grandmaster. However, I swear to thee by the Holy Temple, which our order is sworn to defend, that I will keep counsel with thee as a true comrade. By which temple? said the Marquess of Montserrat, whose love or sarcasm often outrun his policy and discretion.

Starting point is 05:23:49 Swearest thou by that on the hill of Zion, which was built by King Solomon, or by that symbolical, emblematical edifice, which is said to be spoken of in the council holds in the vaults of your precipitories, as something which infers the aggrandizement of thy valiant, invenerable order. The temple has scald upon him with an eye of death, but answered calmly, By whatever temple I swear, be assured, Lord Marquess, my oath is sacred.

Starting point is 05:24:18 O would I knew how to bind thee by one of equal obligation. I will swear truth to thee, said the Marquess, laughing, by the earls coronet, which I hope to convert, e'er the ear the ear of the ear, wars are over into something better it feels cold on my brow that same slight coronal a duke's cap of maintenance for a better protection against such a night-breeze as now blows and a king's crown more preferable still being lined with comfortable ermine and velvet in a word our interests bind us together for think not lord grandmaster that were these allied princes to regain jerusalem and place a king of their own choosing there they would suffer your order, any more than my poor Marquesat, to retain the independence which we now hold? No, by our lady, in such case, the proud knights of St. John must again spread plasters and dress plague-saws in the hospitals.

Starting point is 05:25:18 And you, most pussiant and venerable knights of the temple, must return to your condition of simple men at arms, sleep three on a pallet, and mount two upon one horse. as your present seal still expresses to have been your ancient most simple custom the rank privileges and opulence of our order prevent so much degradation as you threaten said the templar haughtily these are your bane said conrad or montserrat and you as well as i reverend grandmaster know that were the allied princes to be successful in palestine it would be their first point of policy to abate the independence of your order which but for the protection of our holy father the pope and the necessity of employing your valor in the conquest of palestine you would long since have expired give them complete success and you will be flung aside as the splinters of a broken lance are tossed out of the tilt-yard there may be truth in what you say said the templar darkly smiling but what were our hopes should the allies withdraw their forces and leave palestine in the grasp of saladin great and assured replied conrad the sultan would give large provinces to maintain at behest a body of well-appointed frankish lances in egypt in persia a hundred such auxiliaries joined to his own light cavalry would turn the battle against the most fearful odds this dependence would be but for a time perhaps during the life of this enterprising sultan but in the east empires arise like mushrooms suppose him dare to be but for a time perhaps during the life of this enterprising sultan but in the east empires arise like mushrooms suppose him dead and us strengthened with a constant succession of fiery and adventurous spirits from europe what might we not hope to achieve uncontrolled by these monarchs whose dignity throws us at present into the shade

Starting point is 05:27:11 and were they to remain here and succeed in his expedition would willingly consign us for ever to degradation and dependence you say well my lord said the grand master and your words find an echo in my bosom yet we must be cautious philip of france is wise as well as valiant true and will be therefore the more easily diverted from our expedition to which in a moment of enthusiasm or urged by his nobles he rashly bound himself he is jealous of king richard his natural enemy and longs to return to prosecute plans of ambition nearer to paris and palestine any fair pretence will serve him for withdrawing from a scene in which he is aware he is wasting the force of his kingdom and the duke of austria said the templar oh touching the duke returned conrad his self-conceit and folly lead him to the same conclusions as do philip's policy and wisdom he conceives himself god help the while ungratefully treated because men's mouths even those of his own mine singers are filled with the praises of king richard whom he fears and hates and in whose harm he would rejoice like those unbred dastardly curse who if the foremost of the pack is hurt by the grip of the wolf are much more likely to assail the sufferer from behind than to come to his assistance but wherefore till i this to thee save to show the time in sincerity and desiring that this league be broken up and the country freed of these great monarchs with their hosts and thou well knowest and hast seen thyself how all the princes of influence and power one alone accepted are eager to enter into treaty with the sultan i acknowledge it said the templar

Starting point is 05:29:09 he were blind that he had not seen this in their last deliberations but lift thy mask an inch higher and tell me thy real reason for pressing upon the council that northern englishman or scott or whatever you call yonder knight of the leopard to carry their proposals for a treaty there was a policy in it replied the italian his character of native britain was sufficient to meet what saladin required who knew him to belong to the band of richard while his character of scott and certain other personal grudges which i wot of rendered it most unlikely that a envoy should on his return hold any communication with the sick-bed of richard to whom his presence was ever unacceptable oh to finespun policy said the grand master trust me that italian spider's webs will never bind this unshorn sampson of the isle well if you can do it with new cords and those of the toughest see you not that the envoy whom you have selected so carefully hath brought us in this physician the means of restoring the lion-hearted bull-necked englishmen to prosecute his crusading enterprise and as soon as he is able once more to rush on which of the princes dare hold back they must follow him for very shame although they would march under the banner of satan as soon be content said conrad or montserrat ere this physician if he work by anything short of miraculous agency can accomplish richard's cure it may be possible to put some open rupture betwixt the frenchman at least the austrian and his allies of england so that the breach shall be irreconcilable and richard may arise from his bed perhaps to command his own native troops but never again by his sole energy to wield the force of the whole crusade thou art a willing archer said the templar

Starting point is 05:31:08 but comrade or montserrat the bow is over slack to carry an arrow to the mark he then stopped short cast a suspicious glance to see that no one overheard him and taken conrad by the hand pressed at eagerly as he looked the italian in the face and repeated slowly richard arise from his bed sayest thou conrad he must never arise the marquess of montserrat started what spoke you of richard of england of course de Leon, the champion of Christendom. His cheek turned pale, and his knees trembled as he spoke. The Templar looked at him, with his iron visage contorted into a smile of contempt. Knowest thou what thou looks like, Sir Conrad, at this moment? Not like the politic and valiant Marquess of Montserrat, not like him who were direct to the Council of Princes and determine the fate of empires, but like a novice, who, stumbling upon a conjection, in his master's book or Grameer, has raised the devil when he least thought of it, and now stands terrified at the

Starting point is 05:32:14 spirit which appears before him. "'I grant you,' said Conrad, recovering himself, "'that, unless some other road could be discovered, thou hast hinted at that which leads most direct to our purpose. But, blessed Mary, we shall become the curse of all Europe, the malediction of everyone, from the pope on his throne, to the very bigger at the church gate, who, ragged and leprous, in the last extremity of human wretchedness, shall bless himself that he is neither Charles Amory, nor Conrad of Montserrat.

Starting point is 05:32:48 If thou takeest it thus, said the Grand Master, with the same composure which characterised him all through this remarkable dialogue, let us hold there is nothing passed between us, that we have spoken in our sleep, have awakened, and the vision is gone. It can never depart, answered Conrad, "'Fisions of Duke-all-crowns and kingly diademes are indeed "'somewhat tenacious of their place in the imagination,' replied the Grandmaster. "'Well,' answered Conrad,

Starting point is 05:33:22 "'let me but first try to break peace between Austria and England. "'They parted. "'Conrad remained standing still upon the spot, "'and watching the flowing white cloak of the Templar "'as he stalked slowly away, "'and gradually disappeared amid the fast-thinking darkness of the Oriental Knight, proud, ambitious, unscrupulous, and politic, the Marques of Montserrat was not yet cruel by nature, who was a voluptuary, and an Epicurean, and, like many who profess his character, was averse,

Starting point is 05:33:58 even upon selfish motives, from inflicting pain or witnessing acts of cruelty, and he retained also a general sense of respect for his own reputation, which sometimes supplies the want of of the better principle, by which reputation is to be maintained. I have, he said, as his eyes still watched the point at which he had last seen the slight wave of the Templar's mantle. I have, in truth, raised the devil with a vengeance. Who would have thought this stern, ascetic grandmaster, whose whole fortune and misfortune is merged in that of his order? Would we willing to do more for its advancement than I who labour for my own interest?

Starting point is 05:34:41 to check this wild crusade was my motive indeed but i durst not think on the ready mode which this determined priest has dared to suggest yet it is the surest perhaps even the safest such were the marquess's meditations when his muttered soliloquy was broken by a voice from a little distance which proclaimed with the emphatic tone of a herald remember the holy sepulchre the exhortation was echoed from post to post for it was the duty of the sentinels to raise this cry from time to time upon their periodical watch, that the host of the Crusaders might always have in their remembrance the purpose of their being in arms. But though Conrad was familiar with the custom, and had heard the warning voice on all former occasions as a matter of habit, yet it came at the present moment so strongly in contact with his own train of thought, that it seemed a voice from heaven warning him against the iniquity which is how much,

Starting point is 05:35:41 part meditated he looked around anxiously as if like the patriarch of old though from very different circumstances he was expecting some ram caught in a thicket some substitution for the sacrifice which his comrade proposed to offer not to the supreme being but to the mollock of their own ambition as he looked the broad folds of the ensign of england heavily distending itself to the falling night breeze caught his up It was displayed upon an artificial mound, nearly in the midst of the camp, which perhaps of some old Hebrew chief or champion had chosen as a memorial of his place of rest. If so, the name was now forgotten, and the Crusaders had christened at St. George's Mount, because from that commanding height the banner of England was supermanently displayed, as if an emblem of the sovereignity over the many distinguished, noble, and even, and Royal Ensigns which floated in lower situations. A quick intellect like that of Conrad catches ideas from the glance of a moment.

Starting point is 05:36:51 A single look on the standard seemed to dispel the uncertainty of mind which had affected him. He walked to his pavilion, with the hasty and determined step of one who has adopted a plan, which he has resolved to achieve, dismissed the almost princely train who waited to attend him, and, as he committed himself to his couch, muttered his amended resolution, that the milder means are to be tried before the more desperate are resorted to. Tomorrow, he said, I sit at the board of the Archduke of Austria. We will see what can be done to advance our purpose, before prosecuting the dark suggestions of this Templar.

Starting point is 05:37:32 End of Chapter 10. Chapter 11 Part 1 of the Talisman. this is the librivox recording or librivox recordings are in the public domain for more informational to volunteer please visit librivox dot org recording by a lizzie driver the talisman by sir walter scott chapter eleven part one one thing is certain in our northern land allow that birth or valor wealth or wit give each precedence to their possessor envy that follows on such eminence as comes the life on the robux trace shall pull them down each one sir david lindsay leopold grand duke of austria was the first possessor of that noble country to whom the princely rank belonged he had been raised the duke also sway in the german empire on account of his near relationship to the emperor henry the stern and held under his government the finest provinces which are watered by the danube his character has been stained in history on account of one action of violence and perfidy, which arose out of these very transactions in the Holy Land.

Starting point is 05:38:51 And yet the shame of having made Richard a prisoner when he returned through his dominions, unintended and in disguise, was not one which flowed from Leopold's natural disposition. He was rather a weak and a vain than an ambitious or tyrannical prince. His mental powers resembled the qualities of his person. he was tall strong and handsome with a complexion in which red and white was strongly contrasted and had long flowing locks of fair hair but there was an awkwardness in his gait which seemed as if his size was not animated by energy sufficient to put in motion such a mass

Starting point is 05:39:31 and in the same manner wearing the richest dresses it always seemed as if they became him not as a prince he appeared too little familiar with his own way he appeared too little familiar with him his own dignity, and being often at a loss how to assert his authority, when the occasion demanded it, he frequently thought himself obliged to recover, by acts and expressions of ill-timed violence, the ground which might have been easily and gracefully maintained, by a little more presence of mind in the beginning of the controversy. Not only were these deficiencies visible to others, but the archduke himself could not but sometimes entertain a painful consciousness, that he was not altogether fit to maintain and assert the high rank which he had acquired. And to this was joined the strong, and sometimes the just, suspicion that others esteemed him lightly accordingly.

Starting point is 05:40:26 When he first joined the crusade, with the most princely attendance, Leopold had desired much to enjoy the friendship and intimacy of Richard, and made such advances towards cultivating his regard, as the King of England ought, in policy, to have received a answered, but the Archduke, though not deficient in bravery, was so infinitely inferior to Cordillian in that ardour of mind which wooed danger as a bride, that the king very soon held him in a certain degree of contempt. Richard, also, as a Norman prince, a people with whom temperance was habitual, despised the inclination of the German for the pleasures of the table, and particularly his liberal indulgence in the use of wine. For these and other personal reasons, the king of england very soon looked upon the austrian prince with feelings of contempt which was at no pains to conceal or modify and which therefore were speedily remarked and returned with deep hatred by the suspiciously appalled

Starting point is 05:41:31 the discord between them was fanned by the secret and politic arts of philip or france one of the most sagacious monarchs of the time who dreading the fiery and overbearing character of richard considering him as his natural rival and feeling offended, moreover, at the dictatorial manner in which he, a vassal of France for his continental dominions, conducted himself towards his liege-lord, endeavored to strengthen his own party, and weaken that of Richard, by uniting the crusading princes of inferior degree, in resisting to what he termed, the usurping authority of the King of England. Such was the state of politics and opinions entertained by the Art Duke of Austria, when Conrad of Monserach resolved upon employing his jealousy of England as the means of dissolving, or loosening at least, the League of the Crusaders. The time which he chose for his visit was noon, and the pretense, to present the Archduke with some choice Cyprus wine, which had lately

Starting point is 05:42:34 fallen into his hands, and discuss its comparative merits with those of Hungary and of the Rhine. An intimation of his purpose was, of course, answered by a courteous invitation to partake of the Archduke meal, and every effort was used to render it fitting the splendor of a sovereign prince. Yet the refined taste of the Italian saw more cumbrous profusion than elegance or splendor in the display of provisions under which the board groaned. The Germans, though still possessing the martial and frank character of their ancestors, who subdued the Roman Empire, had retained withal no slight tinge of their barbarism. The practicals and principles of chivalry,

Starting point is 05:43:20 were not carried to such a nice pitch amongst them as amongst the french and english knights nor were they strict observers of the prescribed rules of society which among those nations were supposed to express the height of civilization sitting at the table of the archduke conrad was at once stunned and amused with the clang of teutonic sounds assaulting his ears on all side notwithstanding the solemnity of a princely banquet their dress seemed equally fantastic to him many of the austrian nobles retaining their long beards and almost all of them wearing short jerkins of various colours cut and flourished and fringed in a manner not common in western europe numbers of dependence of old and young attended in the pavilion mingled at all times in the conversation received from their masters the relics of the entertainment and devoured them as they stood behind the backs of the company jesters dwarfs and minstrels were there in unusual numbers and more noisy and intrusive than they were permitted to be in better regulated society as they were allowed to share freely in the wine which flowed round in large quantities their licences termalt was the more excessive. All this while, and in the midst of a clamor and confusion, which would better become a German tavern during a fair

Starting point is 05:44:47 than the tent of a sovereign prince. The Archduke was waited upon with the minuteness of form and observance, which showed how anxious he was to maintain rigidly the state and character to which his elevation had entitled him. He was served on the knee, and only by pages of noble blood, fed upon plate of silver, and drank his toque and renish wines from a cup of gold. His du calmanta was splendidly adorned with ermine, his coronet might have equalled in value a royal crown, and his feet, cased in velvet shoes, the length of which, peaks included, might be two feet,

Starting point is 05:45:27 rested upon a footstool of solid silver. But it served partly to intimate the character of the man, that, although Desire's show attention to the marquess of montserrat whom he had courteously placed at his right hand he gave much more of his attention to his sproch sprecha that is his man of conversation a sayer of sayings who stood behind the duke's right shoulder this personage was well attired in a cloak and doublet of black velvet the last of which was decorated with various silver and gold coins stitched upon it in memory of the munificent princes who had conferred them and bearing a short staff to which also bunches of silver coins were attached by rings which he jingled by way of attracting attention when he was about to say anything which he judged worthy of it this person's capacity in the house-old of the archduke was somewhat between that of a minstrel and a counsellor he was by turns a flatterer a poet and an orator and those who desired to be well with the duke generally studied to gain the good-will of the sprahe sprecha lest too much of this officer's wisdom should become tiresome the duke's other shoulder was occupied by his hofnard or court jester called jonas who made almost as much noise with his fools cap bells and bobble as did the orator or man of talk with his jingling baton the two personages throughout grave and comic nonsense alternatively

Starting point is 05:47:06 while their master laughing or applauding them himself yet carefully watched the countenance of his noble guest to discern what impression so accomplished a cavalier received from this display of austrian eloquence and wit it is hard to say whether the man of wisdom or the man of folly contributed more to the amusement of the party, awe stood highest in the estimation of their princely master. But the sallies of both seemed excellently well received. Sometimes they became rivals for the conversation, and clunged their flappers in emulation of each other with a most alarming contention. But in general they seemed on such good terms, and so accustomed to support each other's play,

Starting point is 05:47:50 that the Sproch-Spricker often condescended to follow up the jest as witticisms, with an explanation, to render them more obvious to the capacity of the audience, so that his wisdom became a sort of commentary on the buffoon's folly, and sometimes in requital, the hofner, with a pithy jest, wound up the conclusion of the orator's tedious harangue. Whatever his real sentiments might be, Conrad took his special care that his countenances should express nothing but satisfaction with what he heard, and smiled or applauded. as zealiously to all appearance, as the archduke himself at the solemn folly of the sproch's brecker and the gibbering wit of the fool. In fact, he watched carefully,

Starting point is 05:48:38 until the one or other should introduce some topic favourable to the purpose which was uppermost in his mind. It was not long ere the King of England was brought on the carpet by the jester, who had become accustomed to consider Dickon of the broom, which a relevant epithet he substituted for Richard platangent as a subject of mirth acceptable and inexhaustible. The orator indeed was silent, and it was only when applied to by Conrad that he observed. The genusar, or broomplant, was an emblem of humility, and it would be well when those who wore it would remember the warning. The allusion to the illustrious badge of the Plantagent was thus rendered sufficiently manifest and jonas chowanka observed that they who humbled themselves had been exalted with a vengeance honour unto whom honour is due unto the marquess and montserrat

Starting point is 05:49:39 we have all had some part in these marches and battles and methinks how the princes might share a little in the renown which richard of england engrosses amongst minstrels and mine singers has no one of the joyous science he had present a song in praise of the royal Archduke Vostier, our princely entertainer? Three minstrels immoliously stepped forward with voice and harp. Two were silenced with difficulty by the Sproch-Sbracker, who seemed to act as master of the revels, and a hearing was at length procured for the poet preferred, who sung in high German stanzas, which may be thus translated.

Starting point is 05:50:22 What brave chief shall head the forces, where the Red Cross legions gather, best of horsemen best of horses highest head and fairest feather here the orator jingling a staff interrupted the bard to intimate to the party what they might not have inferred from the description that their royal host was the party indicated and a full-crowned goblet went round to the acclamation hock labe de hazon leopold another stanza followed ask not austria why mids princes still have the banner rise highest, ask as well a strong-winged eagle, why to heaven he saws the highest. The eagle, said the expounder of dark sayings, is the cognizance of our noble lord the archduke, of his royal grace, I would say, and the eagle flies the highest and nearest to the sun, of all the feathered creation. The line hath taken a spring above the eagle, said Conrad carelessly.

Starting point is 05:51:24 The archduke reddened, and fixed his eyes. on the speaker, while the spruhe's breaker answered, after him in its consideration, the Lord Marquess will pardon me, a lion cannot fly above an eagle, because no lion hath got wings. Except the lion of St. Mark, responded the jester. That is the Venetian's banner, said the Duke, but assuredly that amphibious race, half-nobles, half-merchants, were not dared to place their rank in comparison with ours. "'Nay, it was not of the Venetian line that I spoke,' said the Marquess of Montserrat, but of the three lines passant of England.

Starting point is 05:52:06 Formerly it is said they were leopards, but now they are become lions at all points, and must take precedence of beast, fish, or fowl, or were worth the gainstander. "'Mean you seriously, my lord?' said the Austrian, now considerably flushed with wine. think you that richard of england asserts any pre-eminence over the free sovereigns who have been his voluntary allies in this crusade i know not but from circumstances answered conrad yonder hangs his banner alone in the midst of our camp as if he were king and generalissimo of a whole christian army and do you endure this so patiently and speak of it so coldly said the arts duke nay my lord answered conrad it cannot concern the poor marquess de montserrat to contend against an injury patiently submitted to by such potent princes as philip of france and leopold of austria what dishonour you are pleased to submit to cannot be a disgrace to me leopold closed his fist and struck on the table with violence i have told philip of this he said I have often told him that it was our duty to protect the inferior princes against the usurpion of this islander.

Starting point is 05:53:31 But he answers me ever with cold respects, of their relations together, as Surazine and vassal, and that it were impolitic in him to make an open breach at this time and period. The world knows that Philip is wise, said Conrad, and we'll judge his submission to be policy. Yours, my lord, you can yourself alone account for. but I doubt not you have deep reasons for submitting to English domination. I submit, said Leopold indignantly. I, the Archduke of Austria, so important and vital a limb of the Holy Roman Empire, I submit myself to this king of a half an island, this grandson of a Norman bastard,

Starting point is 05:54:15 no by heaven. The camp and all Christiandom shall see that I know how to write myself, and whether I yield ground one inch to the English bang-dog. up my lieges and merry men up and follow me we will and that without losing one instant place the eagle of austria where she shall float as high as ever floated the cognizance of king or kaiser with that he started from his seat and amid the tumultuous cheering of his guests and followers made for the door of the pavilion and seized his own banner which stood pitched before it nay my lord said conrad affecting to interfere it will blemish your wisdom to make an affray in the camp at this hour and perhaps it is better to submit to the usurpation of england a little longer than to not an hour not a moment longer vociferated the duke and with the banner in his hand and followed by his shouting guest in attendance marched hastily to the central mount from which the banner of england floated and laid his hand on the standard spear as if to pluck it from the ground my master my dear master said jonas shrunk her throwing his arms about the duke take heed lions have teeth and eagles have claws said the duke not relinquishing his hold on the banner staff

Starting point is 05:55:39 yet hesitating to pull it from the ground the speaker of sentences notwithstanding such was his occupation had nevertheless some intervals of sound sense he clashed his staff loudly and leopold as if by habit, turned his head towards his man of counsel. The eagle is king among the fowls of the air, said the Sproch's Brecker, as is the lion among the beasts of the field. Each has his dominion, separated as wide as England and Germany. Do thou, noble eagle, no dishonour to the princely lion, but let your banners remain floating in peace side by side. Leopold withdrew his hand from the banner spear, and looked round for Conrad and Montserrat, but he saw him not. For the Marquess, as soon as he saw the mischief afoot,

Starting point is 05:56:34 had withdrawn himself from the crowd, taking care in the first place, to express before several neutral persons his regret that the Archduke should have chosen the hours after dinner to avenge any wrong of which he might think he had a right to complain. Not seeing his guest, to whom he wished more particularly to have addressed himself, the Archduke said aloud that,

Starting point is 05:56:56 having no wish to breed dissension in the army of the cross he did but vindicate his own privileges and right to stand upon an equality with the king of england without desiring as he might have done to advance his banner which he derived from emperors his progenitors above that of a mere descendant of the count of anjou and in the meantime he commanded a cask of wine to be brought hither and pierced for regaling the bystanders who, with tuck of drum and sound of music, quoft many a carouse round the Austrian standard. This disorderly scene was not acted without a degree of noise, which alarmed the whole camp. End of Chapter 11, Part 1. Chapter 11 Part 2 This is a Librevox recording, while Liberovacs recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Librivovox.org. by Lizzie Driver

Starting point is 05:58:00 The talisman by Sir Walter Scott Chapter 11 Part 2 The critical hour had arrived at which the physician, according to the rules of his art, had predicted that his royal patient might be awakened to his safety, and the sponge had been applied for that purpose. And the leech had not made many observations, ere he assured the Baron of Gillesland

Starting point is 05:58:26 that the fever had entirely left his sovereign, and that such was the happy strength of his constitution it would not even be necessary as in most cases to give a second dose of the powerful medicine richard himself seemed to be of the same opinion for sitting up and rubbing his eyes he demanded up to vorks what present sum of money was in the royal coffers the baron could not exactly inform him of the amount it matters not said richard be it greater or smaller bestowed all on this learned leech who hath i trust given me back again to the service of the crusade if it be less than a thousand byzance let him have jewels to make it up i saw not the wisdom with which allah has endowed me answer the arabian physician and be it known to you great prince that the divine medicine of which you have partaken would lose its effects in my unworthy hands did I exchange its virtues either for gold or diamonds. The physician refuseth a gratuity, said DeVorx to himself. This is more extraordinary than his being a hundred years old.

Starting point is 05:59:41 Thomas DeVorx, said Richard, thou knowest no courage but what belongs to the sword. No bounty and virtue but what are used in chivalry. I tell thee that this more, in his independence, might set an example to them who account themselves the flower of knighthood. it is reward enough for me said the more folding his arms on his bosom and maintaining an attitude at once respectful and dignified that so great a king as the melech rick should thus speak of his servant open bracket richard was thus called by the eastern nations close bracket but now let me pray you again to compose yourself on your couch for though i think there needs no further repetition of the divine draught yet injury might ensue from any too early exertion, ere your strength be entirely restored. "'I must obey thee, Hakeem,' said the king.

Starting point is 06:00:37 "'Yet believe me, my bosom feels so free from the wasting fire "'which for so many days have scorched it, "'that I cannot how soon I expose it to a brave man's lance. "'But hark! "'What mean these shouts and that distant music in the camp? "'Go tomsdivorks and make inquiry.' "'It is the archedged, dukely appalled, said De Vorks, returning after a minute's absence, who makes, with his

Starting point is 06:01:03 pot companions, some procession through the camp. The drunken fool! exclaimed King Richard, can he not keep his brutal inebriety within the veil of his pavilion, that he must need show his shame to all Christendom? What say you, Sir Marquez? He added, addressing himself to Conrad or Montserrat, who at that moment ended the tent. this much honoured prince answer the marquess that i delight to see your majesty so well and so far recovered and that is a long speech for any one to make who has partaken of the duke of austria's hospitality what you have been dining with the teutonic wine-skin said the monarch and what frolic has he found out to cause all this disturbance truly sir conrad i have still held you so good a reveller that i wonder at your quitting the game "'Divorx, who had got a little behind the king,

Starting point is 06:02:03 "'now exerted himself by look and sign "'to make the Marquess understand "'that he should say nothing to Richard "'of what was passing without. "'But Conrad understood not, "'or he did not, the prohibition. "'What the archduke does,' he said, "'is of little consequence to anyone,

Starting point is 06:02:23 "'lead of all to himself, "'since he probably knows not what he is acting. "'Yet to say, truth, it is a gamble I should not like to share in, since he is pulling down the banner of England from St. George's Mount, in the centre of the camp yonder, and displaying his own in its steed. "'What, sayest thou?' exclaimed the king, in a tone which might have waked the dead. "'Nay,' said the Marquess, "'let it not chafe your highness that a fool should act according to his folly speak not to me said richard springing from his couch and casting on his clothes with a dispatch which seemed marvellous speak not to me lord marquess demulton i command thee speak not a word to me he that breathed but a syllable is no friend to richard plantagant hekeen be silent i charge thee

Starting point is 06:03:14 all this while the king was hastily clothing himself and with the last word snatched his sword from the pillar of the tent and without any other weapon or calling any attendance he rushed to him. He rushed to him. out of his pavilion. Conrad, holding up his hands as if in astonishment, seemed willing to enter into conversation with De Vorks. But Sir Thomas pushed rudely past him, and calling to one of the royal equeraries, said hastily, fly to Lord Salisbury's quarters, and let him get his men together and follow me instantly to St. George's Mount, till him the king's fever has left his blood and settled in his brain. imperfently heard and still more imperfectly comprehended by the startled attendant whom de vorks addressed us hastily the equerry and his fellow-servants of the royal chamber rushed hastily into the tents of the neighboring nobility and quickly spread an alarm as general as the cause seemed vague through the whole british forces the english soldiers waked an alarm from that noonday rest which the heat of the climate had taught them to enjoy as a luxury hastily asked each other the cause of the tumult

Starting point is 06:04:26 and without waiting an answer supplied by the force of their own fancy the want of information some said that saracens were in the camp some that the king's life was attempted some that the king's life was attempted some that he had died with the fever the preceding night, many that he was assassinated by the Duke of Austria. The nobles and officers, at an equal loss with the common men to ascertain the real course of the disorder, laboured only to get their followers under arms and under authority, lest their rashness should occasion some great misfortune to the crusading army. The English trumpet sounded loud, shrill and continuously. The alarm cry of, bows and bills, bows and bills, was heard from quarter to quarter, again and again shouted,

Starting point is 06:05:13 and again and again answered by the presence of the ready warriors and their national invocation, St. George from Mary England. The alarm went through the nearest quarter of the camp, and men of all the various nations assembled, where, perhaps, every people in Christendom had their representatives, flew to arms and drew together under circumstances of general confusion, of which they knew neither the cause nor the object. it was however lucky amid a scene so threatening that the earl of salisbury while he hurried after devorke's summons with a few only of the readiest english men-at-arms directed the rest of the english host to be drawn up and kept under arms to advance to richard's succour if necessity should require

Starting point is 06:05:59 but in fit array and under due command and not with a tumultuary haste which their own alarm and zeal for the king's safety might have dictated in the meanwhile without regarding for one instant the shouts the cries the tumult which began to thicken around him richard with his dress in the last disorder and his sheathed blade under his arm pushed his way with the utmost speed followed only by divorce and one or two household servants to st george's mount he outsped even the alarm which his impetuosity only had excited and passed the quarter of his own gallant troops of normandy puerto gaskinny and anandu before the disturbance had reached them although the noise accompanying the german revel had induced many of the soldiery to get on foot to listen the hand of loscots were also quartered in the vicinity nor had they been disturbed by the uproar but the king's person and his haste were both remarked by the knight of the leopard who aware that danger must be afoot and hastening to share in it snatched his shield and sword and united himself to devauch's who with some difficulty kept pace with his impatient and fiery master devorques answered a look of curiosity which the scottish knight directed towards him with a shrug of his broad shoulders and they continued side by side to pursue richard's steps the king was soon at the foot of st george's mount the sides as well as platformed of which were now surrounded and crowded partly by those belonging to the duke of austria's retinue who were celebrating with shouts of jubilee the act which they considered as an assertion of national honor partly bystanders of different nations whom disliked to the english or mere curiosity had assembled together to witness the end of these extraordinary proceedings

Starting point is 06:08:00 through this disorderly troop which had burst his way like a goodly ship under full sail which cleaves her forcible passage through the rolling billows and heed not that they unite after her passage and roar upon her stern the summit of the eminence was a small level space on which were pitched the rival banners surrounded still by the archduke's friends and retinue in the midst of the circle was leopold himself still contemplating with self-satisfaction the deed he had done and still listening to the shouts of applause which his partisans bestowed with no sparing breath while he was in this state of self-gratulation which had burst into the circle intended indeed only by two men but in his own headlong energies an irresistible host who was dead he said laying his hands upon the austrian standard and speaking in a voice like the sound which precedes an earthquake who was dared to place this paltry rag beside the banner of england the archduke wanted no personal courage and it was impossible he could hear this question without reply yet so much was he troubled and surprised by the unexpected arrival of richard and effected by the general awe inspired by his ardent and unyielding character that the demand was twice repeated in a tone which seemed to challenge heaven and earth ere the archduke replied with such firmness as he could command it was i leopold of austria then shall leopold of austria replied richard presently see the rate at which his banner and his pretensions are held by richard of england so saying he pulled up the standard spear splintered it to pieces threw the banner itself on the ground and placed his foot upon it thus said he i trample on the banner of austria is there a night among your teutonic chivalry dare impede

Starting point is 06:10:03 my deed there was a momentary silence but there are no braver men than the germans i and i and i was heard from several knights of the duke's followers and he himself added his voice to those which accepted the king of england's defiance why do we dally thus said the earl of wallim road a gigantic warrior from the frontiers of hungary brethren and noble gentleman this man's foot is on the honour of the honour of of your country let us rescue it from violation and down with the pride of england so saying he drew his sword and struck at the king a blow which might approve fatal had not the scot intercepted and quartered upon his shield i have sworn said king richard and his voice was heard above all the tumult which now waxed wild and loud never to strike one whose shoulders bear the cross therefore live while enrode but the word but the word that was heard above all the tumult which now waxed wild and loud never to strike one whose shoulders bear the cross therefore live while enrode but the road but the road but lived to remember richard of england as he spoke he grasped the tall hungarian round the waist and unmatched in wrestling as in other military exercises hurled him backwards with such violence that the mass flew as if discharged from a military engine not only through the ring of spectators who witnessed this extraordinary scene but over the edge of the mount itself down the steep side of which won and road rolled headlong until pitching at length upon his shot shoulder he dislocated the bone and lay like one dead this almost supernatural display of strength did not encourage either the duke or any of his followers to renew a personal contest so inauspiciously commenced those who stood furthest back did indeed clash their swords and cry out cut the island mastiff to pieces but those who were near availed perhaps their personal fears under an affected regard for order and cried for the most part but, peace, peace, the peace of the cross, the peace of Holy Church and our father the Pope.

Starting point is 06:12:11 These various cries of the assailants, contradicting each other, showed their irresolution. While Richard, his foot still on the Archdukele banner, glared round him with a nigh that seemed to seek an enemy, and from which the angry noble shrunk appalled, as from the threatening grasp of a lion. Divorks and the knight of the leopard kept their places beside him, and though the swords which they held were still sheathed, it was plain that they were prompt to protect Richard's person to the very last, and their size and remarkable strength, plainly showed that the defence would be a desperate one.

Starting point is 06:12:49 Salisbury and his attendants were also now drawing near, with bills and partisans brandished, and bows already bended. At this moment King Philip of France, attended by one or two of his nobles, came on the platform to inquire the cause of the disturbance, and made gestures of surprise at finding the king of england raised from his sick-bed and confronting their common ally the duke of austria in such a menacing and insulting posture richard himself blushed at being discovered by philip whose sagacity he respected as much as he disliked his person in an attitude neither becoming his character as a monarch nor as a crusader and it was observed that he withdrew his foot as if accidentally from the dishonoured banner and exchanged his look of violent emotion for one of affected composure and indifference

Starting point is 06:13:42 leopold also struggled to attain some degree of calmness modified as he was by having been seen by philip in the act of passably submitting to the insults of the fiery king of england possessed of many of those royal qualities for which he was termed by his subjects the august philip might be termed the ulysses as richard was indisputably the achilles of the crusade the king of france was sagacious wise deliberate in counsel steady and calm in action seeing clearly and steadily pursuing the measures most for the interest of his kingdom dignified and royal in his deportment brave in person but a politician rather than a warrior the crusade would be no choice of his own but the spirit was contagious and the expedition was enforced upon him by the church and by the unanimous wish of his nobility in any other situation or in a mar de age his character might have stood higher than that of the adventurous cordelion but in the crusade itself an undertaking wholly irrational sound reason was the quality of all others least esteemed, and the chivalric valour which both the age and the enterprise demanded was considered as debased if mingled, with the least touch of discretion. So that the merit of Philip, compared with that of his haughty rival, showed like the clear but minute flame of a lamp placed near the glare

Starting point is 06:15:12 of a huge blazing torch, which, not possessing half the utility, makes ten times more impression on the eye. Philip felt his inferiority in public opinion, with the pain natural to a high-spirited prince, and it cannot be wondered at if he took such opportunities as offered for placing his own character in more advantageous contrast with that of his rival. The present seemed to one of those occasions, in which prudence and calmness might reasonably expect to triumph over obstinacy and impetuous violence. what means this unseemly broil betwixt the sworn brethren of the cross the royal majesty of england and the princely duke of leopold how is it possible that those who are the chiefs and pillars of this holy expedition

Starting point is 06:16:02 a truce with thy remonstrance france said richard enraged inwardly at finding him placed on a sort of equality with leopold yet not knowing how to resent it this duke or prince or pillar if you will has the judge or prince or pillar if you will have been insolent and i have chastised him that is all here is a coil forsooth because of a spurning hound majesty of france said the duke i appeal to you and every sovereign prince against the foul indignity which i have sustained the king of england hath pulled down my banner torn and trembled on it because he had the audacity to plant it beside mine said richard my rank as thine equal entitled me replied the duke emboldened by the presence of philip a search such a quality for thy person said king richard and by st george i will treat thy person as i did thy broidered kerchief there fit but for the meanest use to which kerchief made me put nay but patience brother of england said philip and i will present presently show austria that he is wrong in this matter do not think noble duke he continued that in permitting the standard of england to occupy the highest point in our camp we the independent sovereigns of the crusade acknowledge any inferiority to the royal richard it were inconsistent to think so since even the orifflam itself the great banner of france to which the royal richard himself in respect of his french possessions is but a vassad castle holds for the present and inferior place to the lines of england but to sworn brethren of the cross military pilgrims who laying aside the pomp and pride of this world are hewing with our swords the way to the holy sepulchre i myself and the other princes have renounced to king richard from respect to his high renown and great feats of arms that precedence which elsewhere and upon other motives would not have been yielded

Starting point is 06:18:07 i am satisfied that when your royal grace of austria shall have considered this you will express sorrow for having placed your banner on this spot and that the royal majesty of england will then give satisfaction for the insult he has offered the spruhe spruhe and the jester had both retired to a saved distance when matters seemed to come to blows but returned when words their own commodity seemed again about to become the order of the day the man of proverbs was so delighted with philip's politic speech that he clashed his baton at the conclusion by way of emphasis and forgot the presence in which he was in so far as to say aloud that he himself had never said a wiser thing in his life it may be so whispered jonas shawanka but we shall be whipped if you speak so aloud the duke answered sullenly that he would refer his quarrel to the general counsel of the crusade a motion which philip highly applauded as qualified to take away a scandal most harmful to christiandom richard retaining the same careless attitude listened to philip until his oratory seemed exhausted and then said aloud i am drowsy this fever hangs about me still brother of france thou art acquainted with my humour and that i have at all times but few words to spare no therefore at once i will submit a matter touching the honour of england neither to prince pope nor counsel here stands my banner whatsoever a pennon shall be reared within three butts length of it i were it the oriflam of which you were i think but now speaking shall be treated as that dishonoured rag nor will i yield other satisfaction than that which these poor limbs can render in the list to any bold challenge i were it against five champions instead of one now said the jester whispering his companion that it is as complete a piece of folly as i myself had said it

Starting point is 06:20:07 but yet i think there may be in this matter a greater fool than richard yet and who may that be asked the man of wisdom philip said the jester or our own royal duke should either accept the challenge but oh most sage sprach sprake what excellent kings wouldst thou and i have made since those on whose heads these crowds have fallen can play the proverb monger and the fall as completely as ourselves while these worthies plied their offices apart philip answered calmly to the almost injurious defiance of richard i came not hither to awaken fresh quarrels contrary to the oath we have sworn and the holy cause in which we have engaged i part from my brother of england as brothers should part and the only strife between the lions of england and the lilies of france which shall be carried deepest into the ranks of the infidels it is a bargain my royal brother said richard stretching out his hand with all the frankness which belonged to his rash but generous disposition and soon may we have the opportunity to try this gallant and fraternal wager let this noble duke also partake in the friendship of this happy moment said philip and the duke approached half sullenly half willingly to enter into some accommodation i think not of fools nor of their folly said richard carelessly and the duke approached and the duke approached half sullenly half willingly to enter into some accommodation i think not of fools nor of their folly said richard carelessly and the the archduke turning his back on him withdrew from the ground richard looked after him as he retired there is a sort of glow-worm courage he said that shows only by night i must not leave this banner unguarded in darkness by daylight to the look of the lions will alone defend it here thomas of gillsland i give thee the charge of the standard watch over the honour of england her safety is yet more dear to me

Starting point is 06:22:06 said de vaux's and the life of richard is the safety of england i must have your highness back in your tent and without further tarrence thou art a rough and peremptory nurse devorke said the king smiling and then added addressing sir kenneth valiant scott i owe the aboon and i will pay it richly there stands the banner of england watch it as novice as his armour on the night before he is dubbed stir not from it three spears length and defend it with thy body against injury or insult sound thy bugle if thou art assailed by more than three at once dost thou undertake the charge willingly said kenneth and will discharge it upon penalty of my head i will but arm me and return hither instantly the kings of france and england then took formal leave of each other hiding under an appearance of courtesy the grounds of complaint which either had against the other richard against philip for what he deemed an officious interference betwixt him and austria and philip against cordillian for the disrespectful manner in which his mediation had been received those whom this disturbance had assembled now drew off in different directions leaving the contested mount in the same solitude which had subsisted till interrupted by the austrian bravado men judged of the events of the day according to their partialities and while the english charged the austrian with having afforded the first ground of quarrel those of other nations concurred in casting the greater blame upon the insular haughtiness and assuming character of richard thou seest said the marquess of montserrat to the grand master of the templars that subtler courses are more effective than violence i have unlose the bonds which held together this branch of sceptres and lances

Starting point is 06:24:03 thou wilt see them shortly fall asunder i would have called thy plan a good one said the templar had there been but one man of courage among yonder cold-blooded austrians to sever the bonds of which you speak with this sword a knot that is unloosed may again be fastened but not so the cord which had been cut to pieces end of chapter eleven part two chapter twelve of the talisman this is the librivox recording while the bivoux recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit librivox dot org recording by lizzie driver the talisman by sir walter scott chapter twelve tis woman that seduces all mankind gay in the days of chivalry a dangerous post or a perilous adventure was a reward frequently assigned to military bravery as a compensation for its former trials just as in ascending a precipice, the surmounting Wongrag only lifts the climate to points yet more dangerous. It was midnight, and the moon rode clear and high in heaven, when Kenneth of Scotland stood upon his watch on St. George's Mount, beside the banner of England, a solitary sentinel, to protect the emblem of that nation against the insults which might be mediated among the thousands whom Richard's pride had made his enemies.

Starting point is 06:25:43 his thoughts rolled one after each other upon the mind of the warrior it seemed to him as if he had gained some favor in the eyes of that chivalrous monarch who till now had not seemed to distinguish him among the crowds of brave men whom his renown had assembled under his banner and sir kenneth little wrecked that the display of royal regard consisted in placing him upon a post so perilous the devotion of his ambitious and high-placed affection inflamed his military enthusiasm hopeless as this attachment was in almost any conceivable circumstances those which had lately occurred had in some degree diminished the distance between edith and himself he upon whom richard had conferred the distinction of guarding his banner was no longer an adventurer of slight note but placed within the regard of a princess although he was as far as ever from her level an unknown and obscure fate could not now be his if he was surprised and slain on the post which had been assigned him his death and he resolved it should be glorious must deserve the praises as well as call down the vengeance of cordillian and be followed by the regrets and even the tears of the high-born beauties of the english court he had now no longer reason to fear that he should die as a fool dieth sir kenneth had full leisure to enjoy these and similar high-souled thoughts fostered by that wild spirit of chivalry which amid its most extravagant and fantastic flights was still pure from all selfish alloy generous devoted and perhaps only thus far sensible that it reposed objects and courses of action inconsistent with the frailties and imperfections of man all nature around him slept in calm moonshine or in deep shadow

Starting point is 06:27:45 the long rows of tents and pavilions glimmering or darkening as they lay in the moonlight or in the shade was still and silent as the streets of a deserted city besides the banner staff lay the largest air-count already mentioned the sole companion of kenneth's watch on whose vigilance he trusted for early warning of the approach of any hostile footstep the noble animals seemed to understand the purpose of their watch for he looked from time to time at the rich folds of the heavy pennon and when the quarry of the sentinels came from the distant lines in defences of the camp he answered them with one deep and reiterated bark as if to affirm that he too was vigilant in his duty from time to time also he lowered his lofty head and wagged his tail as his master passed and repassed him in the short turns which he took upon his post or when the knight stood silent and abstracted leaning on his lance and looking up towards heaven his faithful attendant ventured sometimes in the phrase of romance to disturb his thoughts and awaken him from his reverie by thrusting his large rough snout into the knight's gauntleted hand to solicit a transitory caress thus passed two hours of the night's watch without anything remarkable occurring at length and upon a sudden the gallant's stag-hound bade furiously and seemed about to dash forward where the shadow lay the darkest yet waited as if in the slips till he should know the pleasure of his master who goes there said sir kenneth aware that there was something creeping forward on the shadowy side of the mount in the name of merlin and margis answered a hoarse disagreeable voice tie up your four-footed demon there or i come not at you

Starting point is 06:29:46 and who art thou that would approach my post said sir kenneth bending his eyes as keenly as he could on some object which he could just observe at the bottom of the ascent without being able to distinguish its form beware i am here for death and life take up thy long fanged satheness said the voice or i will conjure him with a bolt from my arblest at the same time was heard the sound of a spring or check as when a cross-bow is bent unbend thy arblest and come into the moonlight said the scott or by st andrew i will pin thee to the earth be what to whom thou wilt as he spoke he poised his long lance by the middle and fixing his eye upon the object which seemed to move he brandished the weapon as if mediating to cast it from his hand a use of the weapon sometimes though rarely resorted to when a missile was necessary but sir kenneth was ashamed of his purpose and grounded his weapon when there stepped from the shadow into the moonlight like an actor entering upon the stage a stunted decrepit creature whom by his fantastic dress and deformity he recognized even at some distance, for the male of the two dwarfs whom he had seen at the chapel at Engaddy. Recollecting, at the same moment, the other and far different visions of that extraordinary knight, he gave his dog a signal, which he instantly understood, and, returning to the standard,

Starting point is 06:31:26 laid himself down beside it with a stifled growl. The little, distorted miniature of humanity, assured of his safety from an enemy so formidable, came panting up the ascent, which the shortness of his legs rendered Lepard borrious, and, when he arrived on the platform at the top, shifted to his left hand the little crossbow, which was just such a toy as children as that period were permitted to shoot small birds with, and, assuming an attitude of great dignity, gracefully extended his right hand to Sir Kenneth, in an attitude as if he expected he would salute it. But such a result not following, he demanded in a sharp and angry tone of voice soldier wherefore renderest thou not to nectabannus the homage due to his dignity or is it possible that thou canst have forgotten him great nectabannus answer the knight willing to soothe the creature's humour

Starting point is 06:32:25 that were difficult for any one who has ever looked upon thee pardon me however that being a soldier upon my post with my lance in my hand i may not give to one of thy poissants the advantage of coming within my guard or of mastering my weapon suffice it that i reverence thy dignity and submit myself to thee as humbly as a man at arms in my place may it shall suffice said nectabannus so that you presently attend me to the presence of those who have sent me hither to summon you great sir replied the knight neither in this can i gratify thee for my order are to abide by this banner till daybreak. So pray you to hold me excused in that matter also. So saying he resumed his walk upon the platform.

Starting point is 06:33:18 But the dwarf did not suffer him so easily, to escape from his importunity. Look you, he said, placing himself before Sir Kenneth, so as to interrupt his way. Either obey me sir knight, as in duty bound,

Starting point is 06:33:34 or I will lay the command upon thee, in the name of one whose beauty could call down the genii from their sphere, and whose grandeur could command the immortal race when they had descended. A wild and improbable conjecture arose in the knight's mind, but he repelled it. It was impossible, he thought, that the lady of his love should have sent him such a message by such a messenger. Yet his voice trembled as he said. Go too, Nectabannus. Tell me at once, and as a true man, whether this sublime lady of whom thou thou thou thou't thou. speakest, the other and the whoree, with whose assistance I beheld thee sweeping the chapel at

Starting point is 06:34:15 Ngadi? How presumptuous knight! replied the dwarf. Think as thou the mistress of our own royal affections, the sharer of our greatness, and the partner of our comeliness, would demean herself by laying charge on such a vassal as thou? No, highly as thou art honoured. Thou hast not yet deserved the notice of Queen Guinevere. the lovely bride of arthur for whose high seat even princes seem but pygmies but look thou here and as thou knowest or disownest this token so obey or refuse her commands who hath dined to impose them on thee

Starting point is 06:34:54 so saying he placed in the knight's hand a ruby ring which even in the moonlight he had no difficulty to recognize as that which usually graced the finger of the high-born lady to whose service he had devoted himself could he have doubted the truth of the token he would have been convinced by the small knot of carnation-coloured ribbon which was fastened to the ring this was his lady's favourite colour and more than once it he himself assuming it for that of his own liveries "'cause the carnation to triumph over all other hues in the lists and in the battle. "'Sir Kenneth was struck nearly mute by seeing such a token in such hands. "'In the name of all that is sacred, from whom didst thou receive this witness?' "'Said the knight. "'Bring if thou canst, thy wavering understanding to a right settlement for a minute or two, "'and tell me the person by whom thou art sent,

Starting point is 06:35:52 "'and the real purpose of thy message. and take heed what thou sayest, for this is no subject for buffoonery. Foolish and foolish knight, said the dwarf, wouldst thou know more of this matter, than that thou art honoured with commands from a princess, delivered to thee by a king? We list not to parley with thee further than to command thee, in the name, and by the power of that ring,

Starting point is 06:36:17 to follow us to her who is the owner of the ring. Every minute that thou tarriest is a crime against thy allegiance. "'Good nectobarnas, bethink thyself,' said the knight, "'can my lady know where, and upon what duty I am this night engaged? "'Is she where that my life—' Why I speak of life—but that my honour depends on my guard in this banner till daybreak? "'And can it be her wish that I should leave it even to pay homage to her? "'It is impossible! The princess is pleased to be merry with her servant in sending him such a message.' and I must think so

Starting point is 06:36:57 the rather that she hath chosen such a messenger I'll keep your belief said Nectabannus turning round as if to leave the platform It is little to me whether you be traitor Or true man to this royal lady So fare thee well Stay, stay, I entreat you stay

Starting point is 06:37:17 Said Sir Kenneth Answer me but one question Is the lady who sent thee near to this place What signifies it said the dwarf ought fidelity to racken furlongs or miles or leagues like the poor courier who is paid for his labour by the distance which you traverses nevertheless thou's soul of suspicion i tell thee the fair owner of the ring now sent to so unworthy a vassal in whom there is neither truth nor courage is not more distance from this place than this arblest can send a bolt the night gazed again on that ring as if to us attain that there was no possible falsehood in the token tell me he said to the dwarf is my presence required for any length of time time answered nectabannus in his flighty manner what call you time i see it not i feel it not it is but a shadowy name a succession of breathing smetered forth by night by the clank of a bell

Starting point is 06:38:24 by day by a shadow crossing along a dial-stone knowest thou not a true knight's time should only be reckoned by the deeds that he performs in behalf of god and his lady the words of truth though in a mouth of folly said the knight and doth my lady really summon me to some deed of action in her name and for her sake and may not be postponed for even the few hours till daybreak she requires thy presence instantly said the dwarf, And without the loss of so much time, as would be told by ten grains of the sand-glass, hearken thou cold-blooded and suspicious night, these are a very words. Tell him that the hand which dropped roses can bestow laurels.

Starting point is 06:39:13 This allusion to them eating in the chapel of Ngadi sent a thousand recollections through Sir Kenneth's brain, and convinced him that the message delivered by the dwarf was genuine. The Rosebroths, withered as they were, were still treasured under his caress, and nearest to his heart. He paused, and could not resolve to forego an opportunity, the only one which might ever offer, to gain grace in her eyes whom he had installed as sovereign of his infections.

Starting point is 06:39:45 The dwarf, in the meantime, augmented his confusion by insisting either that he must return the ring, or instantly attend him. Hold, hold, hold, at a moment, hold! said the knight, and proceeded to matter to himself. Am I either the subject or slave of King Richard, more than as a free knight sworn to the service of the crusade, and whom have I come hither to honour with lance and sword?

Starting point is 06:40:11 Our holy cause and my transcendent lady! The ring! the ring! exclaimed the dwarf impatiently. False and soulful knight, return the ring, which thou art unworthy to touch or to look upon. "'A moment, a moment, good Nectabarnas,' said Sir Kenneth. "'Disturbed not my thoughts. "'What if the Saracens were just now to attack our lines?

Starting point is 06:40:37 "'Should I stay here, like a sworn vassal of England, "'watching that a king's pride suffered no humiliation? "'Or should I speed to the breach and fight for the cross?' "'To the breach assuredly. "'The next to the cause of God comes the commands of my liege, lady. "'And yet, Cordillian's behest, my own promise, nectobarnus i conjure thee once more to say are you to conduct me far from hence but to yonder pavilion and since you must needs know replied nectabarnus the moon is glimmering on a gilded ball which crowns its roof and which is worth a king's ransom i can return in an instant said the knight shutting his eyes desperately to all further consequences i can hear from there

Starting point is 06:41:27 the bay of my dog if any one approaches the standard i will throw myself at my lady's feet and pray her leave to return to conclude my watch here roswell calling as hound and throwing down his mantle by the side of the standard spear watch thou here and let no one approach the majestic dog looked in his master's face as if to be sure that he understood his charge then sat down beside the mantle with ears erect and head raised like a sentinel, understanding perfectly the purpose for which you were stationed there. "'Come now, good, Necta-Barnas,' said the knight, "'let us hasten to obey the commands thou haste thee that will,' said the dwarf sullenly. "'Thou haste not been in haste to obey my summons, nor can I walk fast enough to follow you along strides. You do not walk like a man, but bound like an ostrich in the desert.'

Starting point is 06:42:27 There are but two ways of conquering the obstincy of nextelieu. Hector Barnus, who, as he spoke, diminished his walk into a snail's pace. For bribes, Kenneth had no means, for soothing no time. So, in his impatience, he snatched the dwarf up from the ground, and bearing him along, notwithstanding his entreaties and his fear, reached nearly to the pavilion pointed out as that of the queen. In approaching it, however, the Scott observed that there was a small guard of soldiers sitting on the ground, who had been concealed from him by the intervening tents. Wondering that the clash of his own armour had not yet attracted their attention,

Starting point is 06:43:11 unsposing that his motions might, on the present occasion, required to be conducted with secrecy, he placed the little panting guide upon the ground to recover his breath, and point out what was next to be done. Nectobanus was both frightened and angry. but he had felt himself as completely in the power of the robust knight as an owl in the claws of an eagle and therefore cared not to provoke him to any further display of his strength he made no complaints therefore of the usage he had received but turning amongst the labyrinth of the tents he led the night in silence to the opposite side of the pavilion which thus screened them from the observations of the waters who seemed either too negligent or too sleepy to discharge their duty to the which thus screened them from the observations of the waters who seemed either too negligent or too sleepy to discharge their duty with much accuracy arrived there the dwarf raised the under part of the canvas from the ground and made signs to sir kenneth that he should introduce himself to the inside of the tent by creeping under it the knight hesitated there seemed an indecorum in thus privately introducing himself into a pavilion pitched the

Starting point is 06:44:24 doubtless, for the accommodation of noble ladies. But he recalled to remembrance the assured tokens which the dwarf had exhibited, and concluded that it was not for him to dispute his lady's pleasure. He stopped accordingly, crept beneath the canvas enclosure of the tent, and heard the dwarf whisper from without. Remain here until I call thee. End of Chapter 12. Chapter 13 of the talisman.

Starting point is 06:45:01 This is the Libre Vox recording, all Libravox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Libravox.org. Recording by Lizzie Driver The Talisman by Sir Walter Scott Chapter 13 You talk of gaiety and innocence. The moment when the fatal fruit was eaten, they parted near to meet again. And malice has ever since been playmate to light gaiety. From the first moment when the smiling infant destroys the flower or butterfly he toys with, to the last chuckle of the dying miser,

Starting point is 06:45:40 who, on his deathbed, laughs his last, to hear his wealthy neighbour has become a bankrupt. Old play Sir Kenneth was left for some minutes alone and in darkness. Here was another interruption which must prolong his absence from his post, and he began almost to repent the facility with which he had been induced to quit it. but to return without seeing the lady edith was now not to be thought of he had committed a breach of military discipline and was determined at least to prove the reality of the seductive expectations which had tempted him to do so meanwhile his situation was unpleasant there was no light to show him into what sort of apartment he had been led the lady edith was in immediate attendance on the queen of england and the discovery of his having introduced himself thus furtively into the royal pavilion might where it discovered lead to much and dangerous suspicion

Starting point is 06:46:45 while he gave way to these unpleasant reflections and began almost to wish that he could achieve his retreat unobserved he heard a noise of female voices laughing whispering and speaking in an adjoining apartment from which as the sounds gave him reason to judge he could only be separated by a canvas petition lamps were burning as he might perceive by the shadowy light which extended itself even to his side of the veil which divided the tent and he could see the shades of several figures sitting and moving in the adjoining apartment it cannot be termed a courtesy in sir kenneth that situated as he was he overheard a conversation in which he found himself deeply interested call her call her for a lady's sake said the voice of one of those laughing invisibles nectobarnes thou shalt be made ambassador to press to john's court to show them how wisely thou canst discharge thee of a mission the shrill tone of the dwarf was heard yet so much subdued that sir kenneth could not understand what he said except that he spoke something of the means of merriment given to the guard but how shall we rid us of the spirit which nectobarneth has raised my maidens hear me royal madam said another voice if the sage and princely nectobarnes be not over-gealous of his most transcendent bride and empress let us send her to get us rid of this insolent knight-errant who can be so easily persuaded that high-born dames may need the use of his insolent and overweening valour it were but just methinks replied another that the princesses guinevere should dismiss, by her courtesy, him who a husband's wisdom has been able to entice hither,

Starting point is 06:48:40 struck the heart to his shame and resentment of what he had heard. Sir Kenneth was about to attempt his escape from the tent at all hazards, when what followed attested his purpose. Nay, truly, said the first speaker, our cousin Edith must first learn how this vaunted white hath conducted himself, and we must reserve the power of giving her ocular proof that he hath failed, in his duty. It may be a lesson we'll do good upon her. For, credit me, Callista, I have sometimes thought she has let this northern adventurer sit nearer her heart than Prudence would sanction. One of the other voices was then heard to mutter something of the Lady Edith's Prudence and wisdom. Prudence, wench, was the reply. It is mere pride, and the desire to be

Starting point is 06:49:30 thought more rigid than any of us. Nay, I will not quit my advance. you know well that when she has us at fault no one can in a civil way lay your error before you more precisely than can my lady edith but here she comes a figure as if entering the apartment cast upon the partition a shade which glided along slowly until it mixed with those which already clouded it despite of the bitter disappointment which he had experienced despite the insult and injury with which it seemed he had been visited by the malice or at best by the idle humour of queen berengera for he already concluded that she who spoke loudest and in a commanding tone was the wife of richard the knight felt something so soothing to his feelings in learning that edith had been no partner to the fraud practised on him and so interesting to his curiosity in the scene which was about to take place that instead of prosecuting his more prudent purpose of an instant retreat he looked anxiously on the contrary for some rent or crevice by means of which he might be made eye as well as ear-witness to what was to go forward surely said he to himself the queen who had been pleased for an idle frolic to endanger my reputation and perhaps my life cannot complain if i avail myself of the chance which fortune seems willing to afford me to obtain knowledge of her further intentions it seemed in the meanwhile as if edith were waiting for the commands of the queen

Starting point is 06:51:09 and as if the others were reluctant to speak for fear of being unable to command her laughter and that of her companions for sir kenneth could only distinguish a sound as of suppressed tittering and merriment your majesty said edith at last seems in a merry mood though methinks the hour of night prompts a sleepy one i was well disposed bedward when i had your majesty's commands to attend you i will not long delay you cousin from your repose said the queen though i fear you will sleep less soundly when i tell you your wager is lost nay royal madam said edith this surely is dwelling on a jest which has been rather worn out i laid no wager however it was your majesty's pleasure to suppose or to insist that i did so nay now despite all pilgrimage satan is strong with you my gentle cousin and prompts thee to leasing can you deny that you gazed your ruby ring against my golden bracelet that yonder knight of the libert or how you call him could not be seduced from his post "'Your Majesty is too great for me to gainsay you,' replied Edith. "'But these ladies can, if they will, bear me witness that it was your highness "'who proposed such a wager, and took the ring from my finger,

Starting point is 06:52:36 "'even while I was declaring that I did not think it made only to gauge anything on such a subject.' "'Nay but, my lady Edith,' said another voice, "'you must needs Grant, under your favour, "'that you expressed yourself very confident of the valour of that same knight of the leopard.' "'And if I did, Minion,' said Edith angrily, "'is that a good reason while thou shouldst put in thy word "'to flatter Her Majesty's humour?' "'I spoke of that night, but as all men speak,

Starting point is 06:53:07 "'who have seen him in the field, "'and had no more interest in defending "'than thou in detracting from him. "'In a camp what can women speak of save soldiers and deeds of arms?' "'The noble Lady Edith,' said a third voice, "'have never forgiven Callista and me, "'since we told your majesty that she dropped two rosebuds in the chapel.

Starting point is 06:53:28 If your majesty, said Edith, in a tone which Sir Kenneth could judge, to be that of respectful remonstrance, have no other commands for me, then, to hear the gibes you were awaiting women, I must crave your permission to withdraw. Silence flurrays, said the Queen, and let not our indulgence lead you to forget the difference for twixt yourself and the King's Woman of England. But you, my dear cousin, she continued, resuming her tone of raillery. How can you, who are so good-natured,

Starting point is 06:54:03 begrudge us poor wretches a few minutes laughing, when you have had so many days devoted to weeping and gnashing of teeth? Great be your mouth, royal lady, said Edith. Yet would I be content not to smile for the rest of my life, rather than... She stopped. apparently out of suspect but sir kenneth could hear that she was in much agitation forgive me said berengara a thoughtless but good-humoured princess of the house of navarre but what is the great offence after all a young knight has been wheeled hither has stolen or has been stolen from his post which no one will disturb in his absence for the sake of a fair lady for to do your champion justice sweet one the wisdom of nectar banners

Starting point is 06:54:52 conjure him hither in no name but yours. Gracious heaven! Your Majesty does not say so, said Edith, in a voice of alarm quite different from the agitation she had previously evinced. You cannot say, so consistently with respect for your own honour and for mine, your husband's kinswoman! Say you were jesting with me, my royal mistress, and forgive me that I could, even for the moment, think it possible that you could be in earnest. "'The Lady Edith,' said the queen, in her displeased tone of voice, "'regrets the ring we have won of her.

Starting point is 06:55:30 "'We will restore the pledge to you, gentle cousin, "'only you must not grudge us in turn in little triumph "'over the wisdom which has been so often spread over us "'as a banner over a host.' "'A triumph!' exclaimed Edith indignantly. "'A triumph? The triumph will be with the infidel, "'when he hears that the Queen of England "'can make the repudiate.

Starting point is 06:55:52 of a husband's kinswoman, the subject of a light frolic. "'You are angry, fair cousin, at losing your favourite ring,' said the queen. "'Come, since you grudged to pay your wager, we will renounce our right. It was your name and that pledge brought him hither, and we care not for the bait after the fish is caught.' "'Madam,' replied Edith impatiently, "'you know well that your grace could not wish for anything of mine, but it becomes instantly yours.' but i would give a bushel of rubies e'ring or name of mine had been used to bring a brave man into a fault and perhaps to disgrace and punishment oh it is for the safety of our true knight that we fear said the queen you rate up how too low fair cousin when you speak of a life being lost for a frolic of ours o lady edith others have influence on the iron breasts of warriors as well as you the hard even of a lion is made of flesh not of stone

Starting point is 06:56:54 and believe me, I have interested enough with Richard to save this night, in whose faith Lady Edith is so deeply concerned, from the penalty of disobeying his royal commands. For the love of the Blessed Cross most royal lady, said Edith, and Sir Kenneth, with feelings which it were hard to unravel, hurt her to prostrate herself at the Queen's feet. For the love of our Blessed Lady, and of every Holy Saint in the calendar, beware what you do,

Starting point is 06:57:24 you know not king richard you have been but shortly wedded to him your breath might as well combat the west wind when it is wildest as your words persuade my royal kinsman to pardon a military offence or for god's sake dismiss his gentleman if indeed you have lured him hither i could almost be content to rest with a shame of having invited him did i know that he was returned again where his duty calls him arise cousin arise said queen berengera and be assured all will be better than you think rise dear edith i am sorry i have played my foolery with a knight in whom you take such deep interest nay ring not thy hands i will believe thou carest not for him believe anything rather than see thee look so wrettedly miserable i tell thee i will take the blame of myself with king richard in behalf of thy fair northern friend thine acquaintance i would say since thou ownest him not as a friend nay look not so reproachfully we will send nectobanus to dismiss this knight of the standard to his post and we ourselves will grace him on some future day to make amends for his wild goose chase he is i warrant but lying purdew in some neighbouring tent by my crown of lilies and my sceptre of especially good water-read said nectabannus your majesty is mistaken he is nearer at hand than you what he lieeth in scrawled there behind that canvas petition and within hearing of each word we have said exclaimed the queen out monster of folly and malignity as she uttered these words nectabannus fled from the pavilion with the yell of such a nature as leaves it still doubtful whether berengras had confined her rebuke to words or added some more emphatic expression of her displeasure what can now be done said the queen to edith in a whisper of undisguised uneasiness

Starting point is 06:59:28 that which must said edith firmly we must see this gentleman and place ourselves in his mercy so saying she began hastily to undo a curtain which at one place covered an entrance or communication for heaven's sake forbear consider said the queen my apartment i'll dress the hour my honor but ere she could detail her remonstrances the curtain fell and there was no division any longer betwixt the armed knight and the party of ladies the warmth of an eastern night occasioned the undressed of queen berengara and her household to be rather more simple and unstudied than their station and the presence of a male spectator of rank required. This the queen remembered, and with a loud shriek, fled from the apartment where Sir Kenneth was disclosed to view in a compartment of the ample pavilion, now no longer separated from that in which they stood. The grief and agitation of the Lady Edith, as well as the deep interest she felt in a hasty explanation with the Scottish knight, perhaps occasioned her forgetting that her locks were more disheveled, and her person less heatfully covered than was the want of high-born damsels,

Starting point is 07:00:48 in an age which was not, after all, the most prudish or scrupulous period of the ancient time. A thin, loose garment of pink-coloured silk made the principal part of her vestments, with oriental slippers, into which she had hastily thrust her bare feet, and a scarf hurriedly and loosely thrown about her shoulders. her head had no other covering than the veil of rich and dishevelled locks falling round it on every side, that half-hid a countenance, which a mingled sense of modesty and of resentment, and other deep and agitated feelings, had covered with crimson. But although Edith felt her situation, with all that delicacy which is her sex's greatest charm,

Starting point is 07:01:32 it did not seem that for a moment she placed her own bashfulness in comparison with the due, beauty which, as she thought, she owed to him who had been led into error and danger on her account. She drew indeed her scarf more closely over her neck and bosom, and she hastily laid from her hand a lamp which shared too much lustre over her figure. But, while Sir Kenneth stood motionless on the same spot in which he was first discovered, she rather stepped towards than retired from him, as she exclaimed, hasten to your post-valiant night. You are deceived and being trained hither. Ask no questions. I need ask none, said the knight, sinking upon one knee, with the reverential devotion of a saint at the altar, and bending his eyes on the ground, lest his look should increase the lady's embarrassment.

Starting point is 07:02:28 Have you heard all? said Edith impatiently. "'Cratious saints, then wherefore wait you here, "'when each minute that passes is loaded with dishonour?' "'I have heard that I am dishonoured, lady, "'and I have heard it from you,' answered Kenneth. "'What, Wreck, how soon punishment follows. "'I have but one petition to you, "'and then I seek, among the sabres of the infidels,

Starting point is 07:02:53 "'whether dishonour may not be washed out with blood.' "'Do not so neither,' said the lady. "'Be wise, tell ye not here.' all may yet be well if you will but use dispatch i wait but for your forgiveness said the knight still kneeling for my presumption in believing that my poor services could have been required or valued by you i do forgive you i have nothing to forgive have been the means of injuring you but i'll be gone i will forgive i will value you that is as i value every brave crusader if you will but be gone receive first this precious yet fatal pledge said the knight tendering the ring to edith who now showed gestures of impatience oh no no she said declining to receive it keep it keep it as a mark of my regard my regret i would say oh begone if not for your own sake for mine almost recompensed for the loss even of honor which her voice had to announced to him, by the interest which she seemed to testify in his safety, Sir Kenneth rose from

Starting point is 07:04:08 his knee, and, casting a momentary glance on Edith, bowed low and seemed about to withdraw. At the same instant, that maidenly bashfulness, which the energy of Edith's feelings had till then triumphed over, became conquered in its turn, and she hastened from the apartment, extinguishing her lamp as she went, and leaving, in Sir Kenneth's thoughts, both mental and natural gloom behind her she must be obeyed was the first distinct idea which waked him from his reverie and he hastened to the place by which he had entered the pavilion to pass under the canvas in the manner he had entered required time and attention and he made a readier aperture by slitting the canvas wall with his poignard when in the free air he felt rather stupefied and overpowered by a conflict of sensations then able to ascertain what was the real import of the whole he was obliged to spur himself to action by recollecting that the command of the lady edith had required haste even then engaged as he was amongst tent robes in tents he was compelled to move with caution until he should regain the path or avenue aside from which the dwarf had led him

Starting point is 07:05:29 in order to escape the observations of the guards before the queen's pavilion and he was obliged also to move slowly and with precaution to avoid giving an alarm either by falling or by the clashing of his armour a thin cloud had obscured the moon too at the very instant of his of his leave in the tent, and Sir Kenneth had to struggle with this inconvenience at a moment when the dizziness of his head and the fullness of his heart, scarce left in the powers of intelligence, sufficient to direct his motions. But at once sounds came upon his ear, which instantly recalled him to the full energy of his faculties. These proceeded from the Mount of St. George. He heard first a single, fierce, angry and savage bark, which was immediately followed by a yell of agony. No deer ever bounded with a wilder start at the voice of Roswell, than did Sir Kenneth at what he feared was the death cry of that noble hound,

Starting point is 07:06:30 from whom no ordinary injury could have extracted even the slightest acknowledgment of pain. He surmounted the space which divided him from the avenue, and, having attained it, began to run towards the mount, although loaded with his full mail, faster than most men could have accompanied him, even if unarmed. relax not his pace for the steep sides of the artificial mound and in a few minutes still on the platform upon its summit the moon broke forth at this moment and showed him that the standard of england was vanished that the spear on which it had floated lay broken on the ground and beside it was his faithful hound apparently in the agonies of death end of chapter thirteen chapter fourteen of the talisman this is the librivox recording while the brovox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit librivox dot org recording by lizzie driver all my long arrear of honor lost heaped up in youth and hordered up for rage hath honors found and then sucked up the stream he hath and hooting boys may barefoot pass and gather pebbles from the naked ford

Starting point is 07:07:53 don sebastian after a torrent of afflicting sensations by which he was at first almost stunned and confounded sir kenneth's first thought was to look for the authors of this violation of the english banner but in no direction could he see traces of them his next which to some persons but scarce to any who have made intimate acquaintances among the canine race may appear strange was to examine the condition of his faithful Roswell, mortally wounded as it seemed, in discharge in the duty which his master had been seduced to abandon. He caressed the dying animal, who, faithful to the last, seemed to forget his own pain in the satisfaction he received from his master's presence, and continued wagging his tail and lick in his hand. Even while, by low moanings, he expressed that his agony was increased by the attempts which Sir Kenneth May to withdraw. from the wound the fragment of the lance or javelin with which it had been inflicted then redoubled his feeble endearments as if fearing he had offended his master by showing a sense of the pain to which his interference had subjected him

Starting point is 07:09:08 there was something in the display of the dying creature's attachment which mixed as a bitter ingredient with the sense of disgrace and desolution by which sir kenneth was oppressed his only friend seemed removed from him just when he had encountered heard the contempt and hatred of all besides the knight's strength of mind gave way to a burst of agonized distress and he groaned and wept aloud while he thus indulged his grief a clear and solemn voice close beside him pronounced these words in the sonorous tone of the readers of the mosque and in the lingua franca mutually understood by christians and saracens adversity is like the period of of the former and of the latter rain colds comfortless unfriendly to man and to animal yet from that season have their birth the flower and the fruit the date the rose and the pomegranate sir kenneth of the leopard turned towards the speaker and beheld the arabian physician who approaching unheard had seated himself a little behind him cross-legged and uttered with gravity yet not without a tone of sympathy the moral sentences of consolation with which the koran and its commentators supplied him for in the east wisdom is held to consist less than a display of the sage's own inventive talents than in his ready memory and happy application of and reference to that which is written ashamed at being surprised in a woman-like expression of sorrow sir kenneth dashed his tears indignantly aside and again busied himself with his dying favorite the poet has said continued the arab without noticing the knight's adverted look and sullen deportment the ox for the field and the camel for the desert were not the hand of the leech fitter than those of the soldier to cure wounds though less able to inflict them

Starting point is 07:11:15 this patient achim is beyond thy help said sir kenneth and besides he is by thy law an unclean animal where allah hath dined to bestow life and a sense of pain and pleasure said the physician it was sinful pride should the sage, whom he has enlightened, refused to prolong existence or assuage agony. To the sage, the cure of a miserable groom, or a poor dog, and of a conquering monarch, are events of little distinction. Let me examine this wounded animal. Sir Kenneth exceeded in silence, and the physician inspected and handled Roswell's wound

Starting point is 07:11:56 with as much care and attention as if he had been a human being. he then took forth a case of instruments and by the judicious and skilful application of pincers withdrew from the wounded shoulder the fragment of the weapon and stopped with stipe-ticks and bandages the effusion of blood which followed the creature all the while suffering impatiently to perform these kind offices as if he had been aware of his kind intentions the animal may be cured said el hakeem addressing him patiently to perform his kind offices as if he had been aware of his kind intentions the animal may be cured said el hakeem addressing himself to sir kenneth if you will permit me to carry him to my tent and treat him with the care which the nobleness of his nature deserves for no that thy servant adambek is no less skilful in the race and pedigree and distinction of good dogs and of noble steeds than in the diseases which afflict the human race take him with you said the knight i bestow him on you freely if he recovers i owe the reward for attendance on my squire and of nothing else to pay it with for myself i will never again wind bugle or hallo to hound the arabian made no reply but gave a signal with a clapping of his hands which was instantly answered by the appearance of two black slaves he gave them his orders in arabic received the answer that to hear us to obey when taking the animal in their arms they removed him without much resistance on his part but, for though his eyes turned to his master, he was too weak to struggle.

Starting point is 07:13:37 Fare thee well, Roswell, then, said Sir Kenneth, fare thee well, my last and only friend. Thou art too noble a possession to be retained by one such as I must in future call myself. I would, he said as the slaves retired, thou art dying as he is, and could exchange conditions with that noble animal. it is written answer the arabian although the exclamation had not been addressed to him that all creatures are fashioned for the service of man and the master of the earth speaketh folly when he would exchange in his impatience his hopes here and to come for the servile condition of an inferior being a dog who dies in discharging his duty said the knight sternly is better than a man who survives a desertion of it leave me hekeem thou hast on this side of miracle the most wonderful science which man ever possessed but the wounds of the spirit are beyond thy power not if the patient will explain his calamity and be guided by the physician said adam beck el hekeem no then said sir kenneth since thou art so importunate that last night the banner of england was displayed from this mound i was its appointed guardian mourning is now breaking there lies the broken banner spear the standard itself is lost and here i sit a living man how said el hakeem examining him

Starting point is 07:15:12 thy armour is whole there is no blood on thy weapons and report speaks thee one unlikely to return thus from fight thou hast been trained from thy post ay trained by the rosy cheek and black eye of one of those horis to whom you nazarene's vow rather such service as is due to allah than such love as may lawfully be rendered to forms of clay like her own it has been thus assuredly for so hath man ever fallen ever since the days of sultan adam and if it were so physician said sir kenneth sullenly what remedy knowledge is the parent of power said el hakeem as well as supply strength listen to me man is not a tree bound to one spot of earth nor is he framed to cling to one bare rock like the scarce animated shell-fish thine own christian writings command thee when persecuted in one city to flee to another and we moslem also know that mohammed the prophet of allah driven forth from the holy city of mecca found his refuge and his helpmates at medina and what does this concern me said the scott much answered the physician even the sage flies the tempest which he cannot control use thy speed therefore and fly from the vengeance of richard to the shadow of saladine's victorious banner i might indeed hide my desolate honor said sir kenneth ironically in a camp of infidel heathens where the very phrase is unknown but had i not better partake more fully in their approach does not thy advice stretch so far as to recommend me to take the turban methinks i want but apostate to consummate my infamy blaspheme not nazarene said the physician sternly saladim makes no converts to the law of the prophet save those on whom its precept shall work conviction

Starting point is 07:17:19 open thine eyes to the light and the great sultan whose liberality is as boundless as his power may bestow on thee a kingdom remain blinded if thou will and being one whose second life is doomed to misery saladin while yet for this span of present time make thee rich and happy but fear not that thy brow shall be bound with the turban save at thine own free choice my choice were rather said the knight that my choice were rather said the knight that my my writh'n features should blacken, as they are like to do in this evening's setting sun. Yet thou art not wise, Nazarene, said El-Hakim, to reject this fair offer, for I have power with Saladin, and can raise thee high in his grace. Look you, my son, this crusade, as you call your wild enterprise, is as large as a Drummond, parting asunder in the waves. open bracket the largest sort of vessels then known were turned dromans or dromedaries close bracket thou thyself has borne terms of truth in the kings and princes whose forces here assembled to the mighty sultan

Starting point is 07:18:35 and knowest not perchance the full tenor of thine own errand i knew not and i care not said the knight impatiently what avers at me that i have been of late the envoys of princes when ere knight, I shall be egypted and dishonoured corpse. Nay, I speak that it may not be so with thee, said the physician. Saladin has courted on all sides. The combined princes of this league formed against him have made such proposals of composition and peace, as in other circumstances it might have become his honour to have granted to them. Others have made private offers, on their own separate account,

Starting point is 07:19:16 to disjoin their forces from the camps of the kings of Fragonstan, and even to lend their arms to the defence of the standard of the prophet. But Saladin will not be served by such treacherous and entrusted defection. The king of kings will treat only with the Lion King. Saladin will hold treaty with none, but the Mellash Rick. And with him he will treat like a prince, or fight like a champion. To Richard who will yield such conditions of his free liberality, as the sores of all Europe could never compel from him by force or terror. He will permit a free pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and all the places where the Nazarene lists to worship. Nay, he will so far share even his empire with his brother Richard,

Starting point is 07:20:04 that he will allow Christian garrisons in the six strongest cities of Palestine, and one in Jerusalem itself, and suffer them to be under the immediate command of the officers of Richard, who, he consents, shall bear the name of King Guardian of Jerusalem, yet further. "'Strange and incredible as you may think it. "'No, Sir Knight. "'For to your honour I can commit even that almost incredible secret. "'No, that Saladin will put a sacred seal on this happy union "'buttox the bravest and noblest of Fragonstar and Asia,

Starting point is 07:20:38 "'by rising to the rank of his royal spouse a Christian damsel, "'allied in blood to King Richard, "'and known by the name of the Lady Edith of Plantagent. "'Open bracket. This may appear so extraordinary and improbable a proposition, that it is necessary to say such a one was actually made. The historians, however, substituted the widowed queen of Naples, sister of Richard, for the bride, and Saladin's brother for the bridegroom.

Starting point is 07:21:09 They appear to have been ignorant of the existence of Edith of Plantagint. See Mill's History of the Crusades, Volume 2, page 61. Close bracket. Ha, sayest thou? exclaimed sir kenneth who listening with indifference and apathy to the preceding part of el hakeem's speech was touched by the last communication as the thrill of a nerve unexpectedly jarred will awaken the sensation of agony even in the torpor of palsy then moderating his tone by dint of much effort he restrained his indignation and veiling it under the appearance of contemptuous doubt he prosecuted the conversation in order to get as much knowledge as possible of the plot as he deemed it against the honour and happiness of her whom he loved not the less that his passion had ruined apparently his fortunes at once and his honour and what christian he said with tolerable calmness would sanction a union so unnatural as that of a christian maiden with an unbelieving saracen

Starting point is 07:22:20 thou art but an ignorant bigoted nazarene said the hekeem seest thou not how the mohammedian prince is daily into marry with the noble nazarene maidens in spain without scandal either to moore or christian and the noble sultan will in his full confidence in the blood of richard permit the english maid the freedom which your frankish manners have assigned to women he will allow her the free exercise of her religion seeing that in truth it signifies but little to which faith females are addicted and he will assign her such place and rank over all the women of a xenonar that she shall be in every respect his soul and absolute queen what said sir kenneth darest thou think moslem that richard would give his kingswoman a high-born and virtuous princess to be at best the foremost concubine in the harium of a misbeliever no hekeem the meanest free Christian noble would scorn on his child's behalf such splendid ignominy. Thou eurrest, said the Hakeem. Philip of France and Henry of Champagne, and others of Richard's principal allies, have heard the proposal without starting,

Starting point is 07:23:37 and have promised, as far as they may, to forward an alliance that may end these wasteful wars. And the wise archpriest of Tyre hath undertaken to break the proposal to Richard, not doubting that he should be able to bring the plan to good issue. The Saldan's wisdom hath as yet kept his proposition secret from others, such as he of Monserat and the master of the Templars, because he knows they seek to thrive by riches death or disgrace, not by his life or honour.

Starting point is 07:24:08 Up therefore, sir knight and to horse, I will give thee a scroll which shall advance thee highly with the Saldan. And deem not that you are leaving your country, or her cause, or her religion. since the interest of the two monarchs will speedily be the same. Dersalidan, thy counsel, will be most acceptable, since thou canst make him aware of much concern in the marriages of the Christians, the treatment of their wives, and other points of their laws and usages, which, in the course of such treaty, it much concerns him that he should know.

Starting point is 07:24:41 The right hand of the Saldan grasps the treasures of the east, and it is the fountain of generosity. or if thou desirest saladine when allied with england can a but little difficulty to obtain from richard not only thy pardon and restoration to favour but an honourable command in the troops which may be left of the king of england's host to maintain their joint government in palestine up then a mount there lies a plain path before thee hakeem said the scottish knight thou art a man of peace also thou hast saved the life of life of Richard of England, and, moreover, of my own poorest squire, Strachan. I have, therefore, heard to end a matter which, being propounded by another Muslim than thyself, I would have cut short with a blow of my dagger. Hakeem, in return for thy kindness, I advise thee to see that the Saracen who shall propose to Richard,

Starting point is 07:25:40 a union betwixt the blood of Plantagint and that of his accursed race, "'Dupid on a helmet which is capable "'to endure such a blow of battle-ax, "'as that which struck down the gate of Aker. "'Sertz, he will be otherwise placed beyond the reach even of Viscale. "'Thou art, then, willfully determined not to fly to the Saracen host?' "'said the physician. "'Yet, remember, thou stayest a certain destruction.

Starting point is 07:26:08 "'And the writings of thy law, as well as ours, "'prehibit man from breaking into the tabernacle of his own, life. God forbid, replied the Scot, crossing himself, but we are also forbidden to avoid the punishment which our crimes have deserved. And since so poor are thy thoughts of fidelity, Heikim, it grudders me that I have bestowed my good hand on thee, for should he live, he will have a master ignorant of his value. A gift that is begrudged is already recalled, said El Haquim. Only we physicians are sworn not to send away a patient uncure. if the dog recover he is once more yours go to heikim answered sir kenneth men speak not of hawk and hound when there is but an hour of daybreak betwixt them and death

Starting point is 07:26:59 leave me to recollect my sins and reconcile myself to heaven i leave thee in thine obstinacy said the physician the mist hides the precipice from those who are doomed to fall over it he withdrew slowly turning from time to time his head as if to observe whether the devoted knight might not recall him, either by word or signal. At last his turbaned figure was lost among the labyrinths of tents, which lay extended beneath, widening in the pale light of the dawning, before which the moonbeam had now faded away. But, although the physician Adam Beck's words had not made that impression upon Kenneth which the sage desired, they had inspired the scot with a motive for desiring life, which, dishonour. as he conceived himself to be. He was before willing to part from,

Starting point is 07:27:55 as from a solid vestment no longer becoming his wear. March, that had passed between himself and the hermit, besides what he had observed between the anchorite and the Sherkhov, orilder him, he now recalled to recollection, intended to confirm what the Hakeem had told him of the secret article of the treaty. The Reverend imposter, he exclaimed to himself, the whore hypocrite he spoke of the unbelieving husband converted by the believing wife and what do i know but that the traitor exhibited to the saracen a curse of god the beauties of edith

Starting point is 07:28:34 that the hound might judge of the princely christian lady were fit to be admitted into the harem of a misbeliever if i had yonder infidel ilderim or whatsoever he is called again in the grip with which i once held him fast as if a hound held hair never again should he at least come on errand disgraceful to the honour of christian king or noble and virtuous maiden but i my hours are fast dwindling into minutes yet while i have life and breath something must be done and speedily he paused for a few minutes threw from him his helmet then strode down the hill and took the road to king richard's pavilion end of chapter fourteen chapter fifteen of the talisman this is a libervox recording all librivox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit librivox dot org recording by lizzie driver the talisman by sir walter scott chapter fifteen the feathered songster chanter clear had wound his bugle horn and told the early villager the coming of the morn king edward saw the ruddy streaks of light eclipse the grey, and heard the raven's croaking throat, proclaim the fated day. Thou art right, he said, for by the god that sits enthroned on high, Charles Baldwin and his fellows twain, this day shall surely die. Chatterton. On the evening on which Sir Kenneth assumed

Starting point is 07:30:17 his post, Richard, after the stormy event which disturbed its tranquillity, had retired to rest in the plentitude of confidence, inspired by his unbounded courage, and the superiority which he had displayed, in carrying the point he aimed at in presence of the whole Christian host and its leaders, many of whom he was aware, regarded in their secret souls the disgrace of the Austrian Duke as a triumph over themselves, so that his pride felt gratified, that in prostrating one enemy he had mortified a hundred, another monarch would have doubled his guards on the evening after such a scene and kept at least a part of his troops under arms but corded leon dismissed upon the occasion even his ordinary watch and assigned to his soldiers a donative of wine to celebrate his recovery and to drink to the banner of st george and his court of the camp would have assumed a character totally devoid of vigilance and military preparation but that sir thomas de vorks the earl of salisbury and other nobles took precautions to preserve order and discipline among the revellers the physician attended the king from his retiring to bed till midnight was passed and twice administered medicine to him during that period

Starting point is 07:31:39 always previously observing the quarter of heaven occupied by the full moon whose influences he declared to be most sovereign or most baleful to the effect of his drugs it was three hours after midnight ere El Hakeem withdrew from the royal tent, to one which had been pitched for himself and his retinue. In his way thither he visited the tent of Sir Kenneth of the Leopard, in order to see the condition of his first patient in the Christian camp, old Strachan, as the knight's esquire was named. Inquiring there for Sir Kenneth himself, El-Hakim learned on what duty he was employed, and probably this information led him to St. George's Mount. where he found him whom he sought in the disastrous circumstances alluded to in the last chapter it was about the hour of sunrise when a slow arm-tread was heard approaching the king's pavilion and eard of orcs who slumbered beside his master's bed as lightly as ever sleep sat upon the eyes of a watch-dog had time to do more than arise and say who comes the night of the leopard entered the tent with the deep and devoted gloom seated upon his manly

Starting point is 07:32:55 features. Whence this bold intrusion, sir knight, said De Vork sternly, yet in a tone which respected his master's slumbers. Hold, De Vaux, said Richard, awaking on the instant. Sir Kenneth cometh like a good soldier to render an account of his guard, to such the general's tent is ever accessible. Then, rising from his slumbering posture, and leaning on his elbow, he fixed, his large bright eye upon the warrior.

Starting point is 07:33:29 "'Speak, Sir Scott, thou comte to tell me of their vigilant, safe and honourable watch, dost thou not? The rustling of the folds of the banner of England were enough to guard it, even without the body of such a knight as men hold thee. "'As men will hold me no more,' said Sir Kenneth. "'My watch hath neither been vigilant, safe, nor honourable. The banner of England has been carried off.' "'And thou alive to tell it?'

Starting point is 07:33:55 in a tone of derisive incredulity away it cannot be there is not even a scratch on thy face why dost thou stand thus mute speak the truth it is ill jesting with a king yet i will forgive thee if thou hast lied lied sir king returned the unfortunate night with fierce emphasis and one glance of fire from his eyes bright and transient as the flash from the cold and stony flint but this also must be endured i have spoken the truth by God and by St George, said the king, bursting into fury, which, however, he instantly checked. De Vorks, go view the spot. This fever has disturbed his brain. This cannot be. The man's courage is proof. It cannot be. Go speedily, or send, if thou wilt not go. The king was interrupted by Sir Henry Neville, who came, breathless, to say that the banner was gone, and the knight who guarded it overpowered, and most probably murdered. as there was a pool of blood with a banner spear lay shivered.

Starting point is 07:35:01 But whom do I see here? said Neville, his eyes suddenly resting upon Sir Kenneth. A traitor, said the king, starting to his feet, and seasoned the curtail axe, which was ever near his bed. A traitor, whom thou shalt see die a traitor's death, and he drew back the weapon as in act to strike. colorless but firm as a marble statue the scott stood before him with his bare head uncovered by any protection his eyes cast down to the earth his lips scarcely moving yet muttering probably in prayer opposite to him and within the due reach for a blow stood king richard his large person wrapped in the folds of his camisica or ample gown of linen except where the violence of his action had flung the covering from his right arm shoulder and a part of his breast leaving to view a specimen of a frame which might have merited his saxon predecessor's epithet of iron side he stood for an instant prompt to strike then sinking the head of the weapon towards the ground he exclaimed but there was blood neville there was blood upon the place hark thee sir scott pray thou wert once for i have seen thee fight say thou hast lain two of the thieves in defence of the standard say between one say there has struck but a good blow in our behalf and get thee out of the camp with thy life and thy infamy you have called me a liar my lord king replied kenneth firmly and therein at least you have done me wrong

Starting point is 07:36:44 know that there was no bloodshed in defence of the standard save that of a poor hound which more faithful than his master defended the charge which he deserted now by st george said richard again heaving up his arm but devourgs threw himself between the king and the object of his vengeance and spoke with the blunt truth of his character my liege this must not be here nor by your hand it is enough of folly for one night and day to have entrusted your banner to a scot said i not they were ever fair and false open bracket such were the terms in which the english used to speak of their poor northern neighbours forgetting that their own encroachments upon the independence of scotland obliged the weaker nation to defend themselves by policy as well as force the disgrace must be divided between edward i and edward the third who enforced their domination over a free country and the scots who were compelled to take compulsory oaths without any purpose of keeping them close brackets thou did stavorks thou wast right and i confess it said richard i should have known him better i should have remembered how the fox william deceived me touching this crusade my lord said sir kenneth william of scotland never deceived but circumstances prevented his bring in his forces peace shameless said the king thou sulliest the name of a prince even by speaking it and yet to vorks it is strange he added to see the bearing of the man coward or traitor he must be yet he abode the blow of richard plantagen as our arm had been raised to lay knighthood on his shoulder

Starting point is 07:38:38 had he shown the slightest sign of fear had but a joint trembled or an eyelid quivered i had shattered his head like a crystal goblet but i cannot strike where there is neither fear nor resistance there was a pause my lord said kenneth ha replied richard interrupting him has thou found thy speech ask grace for heaven but none from me for england is dishonour through thy fault and wert thou mine own and only brother there is no pardon for thy fault i speak not to demand grace of mortal men said the scot it is in your grace's pleasure to give or refuse me time for christian shrift if man denies it may god grant me the absolution which i would otherwise ask of his church but whether i die on the instant or half an hour hence i equally beseech your grace for one moment's opportunity to speak that to royal person which highly concerns your fame as a christian king say on said the king making no doubt that he was about to hear some confession concerning the loss of the banner what i have to speak said sir kenneth touches the royalty of england and must be said to no ears but thine own begone with yourself sirs said the king to neville and devauch's the first obeyed but the latter would not stir from the king's presence if you said i was in the right replied devorx to his sovereign i will be treated as one should be who hath been found to be right that is i will have my own will i leave you not with this false scot how devauch's said richard angrily and stamping slightly darest thou not venture our person with one traitor it is in vain you frown and stamp my lord said devorx i venture not a sick man with a sound one a naked man with one armed in proof it matters not said the scottish knight

Starting point is 07:40:46 "'I seek no excuse to put off time. "'I will speak in presence of the Lord of Gillsland. "'He is a good lord and true. "'But half an hour since,' said De Vorks, "'with a groan implying a mixture of sorrow and vexation, "'and I had said as much for thee. "'There is treason around you, King of England,' continued Sir Kenneth. "'It may will be as thou sayest,' replied Richard.

Starting point is 07:41:14 "'I have a pregnant example.' "'Treason that will be. injure thee more deeply than the loss of a hundred banners in a pitched field. The... Sir Kenneth hesitated, and at length continued in a lower tone. The Lady Edith. "'Ha!' said the king, drawing himself suddenly into a state of haughty attention, and fixing his eyes firmly on the supposed criminal.

Starting point is 07:41:41 "'What of her, what of her? What is she to do with this matter?' "'My lord,' said the Scot. there is a scheme on foot to disgrace your royal lineage by bestowing the hand of the lady edith on the saracen sultan sultan and thereby to purchase a peace most dishonorable to christiandom by an alliance most shameful to england the communication had precisely the contrary effect from that which sir kenneth expected richard plentadant was one of those who in yago's words would not serve god because it was the devil who bade him advice or information often affected him less according to its real import than through the tinge which it took from the supposed character and views by those which was communicated unfortunately the mention of his relative's name renewed his recollection of what he had considered as extreme presumption in the knight of the leopard even when he stood high in the role of chivalry but which in his present condition appeared an insult sufficient to drive the farry monarch into a frenzy of passion. Silence, he said. Infamous and audacious. By heaven I will have thy tongue torn out with hot pincers for mentioning the very name of a noble Christian damsel. No degenerate traitor,

Starting point is 07:43:03 that I was already aware to what height thou hast dared to raise thine eyes, and endured it, though it were insolence, even when thou hadst cheated us, for thou art all a deceit, interhold in thee as of some name and fame. But now, with lips, blistered with the confession of thine own dishonour, that thou should now dare to name our noble kinswoman, as one in whose fate thou has part or interest? What is it to leave, she marries Saracen or Christian? What is it to thee if, in a camp where princes turn cowards by day and robbers by night, where brave knights turn to paltry deserters and traitors? What is it I say to thee, or anyone, if I should please to ally myself to truth and to valour, in the presence of Saladin?

Starting point is 07:43:45 "'Little to me, indeed, to whom all the world will soon be as nothing,' answered Sir Kenneth boldly. "'But were I now stretched on the rack, I would tell thee that what I have said is much to thine own conscience and thine own fame. "'I tell thee, Sir King, that if thou dost but in thought entertain the purpose of wedding thy king's woman, the Lady Edith—' "'Name her not, and for an instant think not of her,' said the King, again straining the curtail-ax in his grip, until the muscle started above his brawny arm, like the cordage formed by the ivy around the limb of an oak. Not to name her, not to think of her, answered to Kenneth. His spirit stunned as they were by self-depression, beginning to recover their elasticity

Starting point is 07:44:34 from this species of controversy. Now, by the cross on which I place my hope, her name shall be the last word in my mouth, her image the last thought of my mind. try thy boasted strength on this bare brow and see if thou canst prevent my purpose he will drive me mad said richard who in his despite was once more staggered in his purpose by the dauntless determination of the criminal ere thomas of gillsland could reply some bustle was heard without and the arrival of the queen was announced from the outer part of the pavilion detain her detain her neville cried the king This is no sight for a woman. Fire that I have suffered such a paltry traitor to chafe me thus. Away with him to Vorks, he whispered, through the back entrance of our tent,

Starting point is 07:45:27 coop him up close and answer for his safe custody with your life. And hark ye, he is presently to die. Let him have a ghostly father. We would not kill soul and body. And stay, hark thee. We will not have him dishonoured. He shall die knightlike, in his belt and spurs. for, if his treachery be as black as hell, his boldness may match that of the devil himself.

Starting point is 07:45:52 De Vorks, right glad if the truth may be guessed, that the scene ended without riches descending into the unkingly act of himself slaying an unresisting prisoner, made haste to remove Sir Kenneth, by a private issue to a separate tent, where he was disarmed and put in fetters for security. De Vawks looked on with a steady and melancholy attention, while the provost officers, to whom whom Sir Kenneth was now committed, took these severe precautions. When they were ended, he said solemnly to the unhappy criminal, it is King Richard's pleasure that you die undegraided, without mutilation of your body or shame to your arms, and that your head be severed from the trunk by the sword of the executioner. It is kind, said the knight, in a low and

Starting point is 07:46:42 rather submissive tone of voice, as one who received an unexpected favour. My family will not then hear the worst of the tale. Oh, my father! My father! This muttered invocation did not escape the blunt but kindly-nated Englishman, and he brushed the back of his large hand, over his rough features ere he could proceed. It is Richard of England's further pleasure, he said at length, that you have speech with a holy man, and i have met on the passage hither with a carmelite friar who may fit you for your passage he waits without until you are in frame of mind to receive him let it be instantly said the knight

Starting point is 07:47:27 in this also richard is kind i cannot be more fit to see the good father at any time than now for life and i have taken farewell as two travellers who have arrived at the crossway where their roads separate it is well said devourke slowly in the way-and-auched slowly and solemnly, for it irks me somewhat to say that which sums my message. It is King Richard's pleasure that you prepare for instant death. God's pleasure and the kings be done, replied the knight patiently. I neither contest the justice of the sentence, nor desire delay of the execution. De Valks began to leave the tent, but, very slowly, paused at the door and looked back at the scot. for whose aspect thoughts of the world seemed banished as if he was composing himself into deep devotion the feelings of the stout english baron were in general none of the most acute and yet on the present occasion his sympathy overpowered him in an unusual manner he came hastily back to the bundle of reeds on which the captive lay took one of his fettered hands and said with as much softness as his rough voice was capable of expressing

Starting point is 07:48:46 sir kenneth thou art yet young thou hast a father my ralph whom i left training in his little galloway nag on the banks of the irving may one day attain thy years and but for last night would to god i saw his youth bear such promise as thine can nothing be said or done in thy behalf nothing was a melancholy answer i have deserted my charge the banner entrusted to me is lost when the headsman and block up prepared the head and trunk are ready to part company nay then god have mercy said devorx yet would i rather than my best horse i had taken that to watch myself there is mystery in it young man as a plain man may descry though he cannot see through it cowardice psh no coward ever for it as i have seen thee do treachery i cannot think traitors die in their treason so calmly thou hast been trained from thy post by some deep guile some well-devised stratagem the cry of some distressed maiden has caught thine ear or the laughful look of some merry one has taken thine eye never blush for it we have all been led aside by such gear come i pray thee make a clean conscience of it to me instead of the priest richardful is merciful when his mood is abated hast thou nothing to entrust to me The unfortunate night turned his face from the kind warrior, and answered, Nothing. And of Orks, who had exhausted his topics of persuasion, arose and left the tent with folded arms,

Starting point is 07:50:31 and in melancholy deeper than he thought the occasion merited, even angry with himself to find that so simple a matter as the death of a Scottish man could affect him so nearly. Yet, he said to himself, though the rough-footed nays be our enemies encumbered, in palestine one almost considers them as brethren end of chapter fifteen chapter sixteen of the talisman this is the librivox recording all the bravox recordings are in the public domain for more informational to volunteer please visit librivox dot org recording by lizzie driver the talisman by sir walter scott chapter sixteen tis not her sense for sure in that there's nothing more than common and all her wit is only chat like any other woman song the high-born berengaria daughter of sancher's king of navarre and the queen-consort of the heroic richard was accounted one of the most beautiful women of the period her form was slight though exquisitely moulded she was graced with a complexion not common in her country a profusion of fair hair and features so extremely juvenile as to make her look several years younger than she really was though in reality she was not above one and twenty perhaps it was under the consciousness of this extremely juvenile appearance that she affected or at least practised a little childish petulance and wilfulness of manner not unbefitting she might suppose a youthful bride whose rank and age gave her a right to have her

Starting point is 07:52:21 fantasies indulged and attended to. She was, by nature, perfectly good-humoured, and if her due share of admiration and homage, in her opinion a very large one, was duly resigned to her, no one could possess her better temper or more friendly disposition. But then, like all despots, the more power that was voluntarily yielded to her, the more she desired to extend her sway. Sometimes, even when all her ambition was gratified, she chose to be a little out of health and a little out of spirits, and physicians had to toil their wits to invent names for imaginary maladies, while her ladies racked their imagination for new games, new headgear, and new court scandal, to pass away those unpleasant hours, during which their own situation was scarce to be greatly envied. their most frequent resource for diverting this melody was some trick or piece of mischief practised upon each other and the good queen in the buoyancy of her reviving spirit was to speak truth rather too indifferent whether the frolicics thus practised were entirely befitting her own dignity or whether the pain which those suffered upon whom they inflicted was not beyond the proportion of pleasure which she herself derived from them she was confident in her husband's favor in her high rank and in her supposed powers to make good whatever such pranks might cost others in a word she gambled with the freedom of a young lioness

Starting point is 07:53:59 who is unconscious of the weight of her own paws when laid on those whom she sports with the queen berengaria loved her husband passionately but she feared the loftiness and roughness of his character and as she felt herself not to be his match in intellect, was not much pleased to see that he would often talk with Edith Plantagint, in preference to herself, simply because he found more amusement in her conversation, a more comprehensive understanding, and a more noble cast of thoughts and sentiments, than his beautiful consort exhibited. Berengaria did not hate Edith on this account, far less mediate her any harm. For, allowing for some selfishness, her character was, on the whole, innocent and generous. But the ladies of her train, sharp-sighted in such matters, had for some time discovered that a poignant jest at the expense of the Lady Edith was as specific for relieving her grace

Starting point is 07:54:59 of England's low spirits, and the discoveries saved their imagination much toil. There was something ungenerous in this, because the Lady Edith was understood to be an orphan, and though she was called Plantagint, and the fair maid of Anjou, and admitted by Richard to certain privileges only granted to the royal family, and held her place in the circle accordingly, yet few knew, and none acquainted with the Court of England ventured to ask, in what exact degree of relationships she stood to the Cordillon. she had come with eleanor the celebrated queen-mother of england and joined richard at messina as one of the ladies destined to attend on berengaria whose nuptials then approached richard treated his kinswoman with much respectful observance and the queen made her her most constant attendant and even despite of the petty jealousy which we have observed treated her generally with suitable respect

Starting point is 07:56:01 the ladies of the household had for a long time no further advantage over edith there might be afforded by an opportunity of censuring a less artfully disposed head attire or an unbecoming robe for the lady was judged to be inferior in these mysteries the silent devotion of the scottish knight did not indeed pass unnoticed his liveries his cognizance his feats of arms his mottoes and devices were nearly watched, and occasionally made the subject of a passing jest. But then came the pilgrimage of the Queen and her ladies to Engaddy, a journey which the Queen had undertaken under a vow for the recovery of her husband's health, and which she had been encouraged to carry into effect by the Archbishop of Tyre for a political purpose.

Starting point is 07:56:57 It was then, and in the chapel at the Holy Place, connected from above with a carmelite nunnery, from beneath with the cell of the anchorite, that one of the queen's attendants remarked that secret sign of intelligence which Edith had made to a lover, and failed not instantly to communicate it to her majesty. The queen returned from a pilgrimage,

Starting point is 07:57:21 enriched with this admirable recipe against illness, or Ennui, and her train was at the same time augmented by a present of two wretched dwarfs from the dethroned queen of Jerusalem, as deformed and as crazy, the excellent of that unhappy species, as any queen could have desired. One of Borengaria's idle amusements had been to try the effect of the sudden appearance of such ghastly and fantastic forms

Starting point is 07:57:49 on the nerves of the night when left alone in the chapel. But the chest had been lost by the composure of the Scot, and the interference of the anchorion. she had now tried another of which the consequences promised to be more serious the ladies again met after sir kenneth had retired from the tent and the queen at first little moved by edith's angry expostulations only replied to her by upbraiding her prudery and by indulging her of wit at the expense of the garb nation and above all the poverty of the knight of the leopard in which she displayed a good deal of playful malice mingled with some humor until edith was compelled to carry her anxiety to her separate apartment but when in the morning a female whom edith had entrusted to make inquiry brought word that the standard was missing and its champion vanished she burst into the queen's apartment and implored her to rise and proceed to the king's tent without delay and use her powerful mediation to prevent the evil consequences of her jest the queen frightened in her turn cast as is usual the blame of her own folly on those around her and endeavoured to comfort edith's grief and appease her displeasure by a thousand inconsistent arguments she was sure no harm had chanced the night was sleeping she fancied after his night-watch

Starting point is 07:59:22 what though for fear of the king's displeasure he had deserted with the standard it was but a piece of silk and he but a needy adventurer or if he was put under warding for a time she would soon get the king's to pardon him it was but waiting to let richard's mood pass away thus she continued talking thick and fast and he had been together all sorts of inconsistencies with the vain expectation of persuading both edith and herself that no harm could come of a frolic which in her heart she now bitterly repented but while edith in vain strove to intercept this torrent of idle talk she caught the eye of one of the ladies who entered the queen's apartment there was death in her look of a fright and horror and edith at the first glance of her countenance had sunk at once on the earth had not strong necessity and her own elevation of character enabled her to maintain at least external composure madam she said to the queen lose not another word in speaking but save life if indeed she added her voice choking as she said it life may yet be saved it may it may answered the lady callista i have just heard that he has been brought before the king it is not yet over but she added bursting into a vehement flood of weeping in which personal apprehensions had some share it will soon unless some course be taken i will vow a golden candlestick to the holy sepulchre a shrine of silver to our lady of ingadi "'a poll, worth one hundred byzance to St. Thomas of Orthes,' said the queen in extremity.

Starting point is 08:01:17 "'Up, up, madam,' said Edith. "'Call on the saints if you list, but be on your best saint.' "'Indeed, madam,' said the terrified attendant. "'The Lady Edith speaks truth. "'Up, madam, and let us to King Richard's tent and beg the poor gentleman's life. "'I will go. I will go instantly.' said the queen rising and trembling excessively while her woman in as great confusion as herself were unable to render her those duties which were indispensable to a levee calm composed only pale as death edith ministered to the queen with her own hand and alone supplied the deficiencies of her numerous attendants how you wait winches said the queen not able even then to forget frivolous

Starting point is 08:02:09 distinctions. Suffer ye the Lady Edith to do the duties of your attendance? Seest thou, Edith, they can do nothing. I shall never be attired in time. We will send for the Archbishop of Tyre and employ him as a mediator. Oh, no, no, exclaimed Edith. You have done the evil. Do you confer the remedy? I will go, I will go, said the Queen. "'But if Richard be in his mood, I dare not speak to him, he will kill me.' "'Yet go, gracious madam,' said the lady Callister, who best knew her mistress's temper. "'Not a lion, in his fury, could look upon such a face and form,

Starting point is 08:02:56 "'and retain so much an angry thought, far less a true-love knight like the royal Richard, "'to whom your slightest word would be a command.' "'Does thou think so, Calista?' said the queen. "'Ah! thou little knowest yet i will go but see you here what means this you have bedensed me in green a colour he detests lo you let me have a blue robe and search for the ruby carcannet which was part of the king of cypress's ransom it is either in the steel casket or somewhere else this and demands life at stake said edith indignantly it passes human patience remain into your ease madam i will go to king richard i am a party interested i will know if the honour of poor maiden of his blood is to be so far tampered with that her name shall be abused to train a brave gentleman from his duty bring him within the compass of death and infamy and make at the same time the glory of england a laughing-stock to the whole christian army at this unexpected burst of passion beringaria listened with an almost stupefied look of fear and wonder

Starting point is 08:04:11 but as edith was about to leave the tent she exclaimed though faintly stop her stop her you must indeed stop noble lady edith said calista taking her arm gently and you royal madam i am sure will go and without further dallying if the lady edith goes alone to the king he will be dreadfully incensed nor will it be one life that will stay his fury i will go i will go said the queen yielding to necessity and edith reluctantly halted to weight her movements they were now as speedily as she could have desired the queen hastily wrapped herself in a large loose mantle which covered all inaccuracies of a toilet in this guise attended by edith and her women and proceeded and followed by a few officers in men-at-arms she hastened to the tent of her lion-like husband end of chapter sixteen chapter seventeen of the talisman this is the librivox recording or librivox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit librivox dot org recording by lizzie driver the talisman by sir walter scott chapter seventeen were every hair upon his head alife and every life were to be supplicated by numbers equal to those hairs quadrupled life after life shoot out like waning stars before the daybreak oras festive lamps which have lent luster to the midnight revel each after each are quenched when guests depart old play the entrance of queen berengaria into the interior of richard's pavilion was withstood in the most respectful and reverential manner indeed but still withstood by the chamberlains who watched in the outer tent

Starting point is 08:06:18 she could hear the stern command of the king from within prohibiting their entrance you see said the queen appealing to edith as if she had exhausted all means of intercession in her power. I knew it. The king will not receive us. At the same time, they heard Richard speak to someone within. Go, speed thine off as quickly, Sirrah, for in that consist thy mercy. Turn by, senseeth thou dealest on him at one blow. And hark thee, villain, observe if his cheek loses colour, or his eye falters. Mark me the smallest twitch of the features, or wink of the eyelid. I love to know how brave souls meet death. If he sees my blade waved aloft without shrinking, he is the first ever did so. Answered a harsh, deep voice, which a sense of unusual awe had softened into a sound much lower than its usual coarse tones.

Starting point is 08:07:16 Edith could remain silent no longer. "'If your grace,' she said to the queen, "'make not your own way. I make it for you. I am not for your majesty for myself at least. Chamberlain, the queen demands to see King Richard. the wife to speak with her husband. Noble lady, said the officer, lowering his wand of office. It grieves me to gainsay you, but his majesty is busied on matters of life and death.

Starting point is 08:07:46 And we seek also to speak with him on matters of life and death, said Edith. I will make entrance for your grace. And putting aside the chamberlain with one hand, she laid hold on the curtain with the other. I dare not gain sane her majesty's pleasure, said the Chamberlain, yielding to the vehemence of the fair petitioner. And as he gave way, the Queen founders have obliged to enter the apartment of Richard. The monarch was lying on his couch, and at some distance, as awaiting his further commands, stood a man whose profession it was not difficult to conjecture. He was clothed in a jerking of red cloth, which reached scantily. below the shoulders, leaving the arms bare from about half-way above the elbow, and as

Starting point is 08:08:34 an upper garment he wore, when about as at present betake himself to his dreadful office, a coat or tabard without sleeves, something like that of a herald, made of dressed bull's-hide, and stained in the front with many a broad spot and speckle of dull crimson. The jerkin and the tabbid over it reached the knee, and the nether socks or covering of the legs were of the same leather which composed the tabard a cup of rough shag served to hide the upper part of a visage which like that of a screech-hour seemed desirous to conceal itself from light the lower part of the face being obscured by huge red beard mingling with shaggy locks of the same colour what features were seen was stern and misanthropic the man's figure was short strongly made with a neck like a bull very broad shock shoulders, arms of great and disproportionate length, a huge square trunk, and thick bandy legs. This trucellent official leant on a sword, the blade of which was nearly four feet and a half in length,

Starting point is 08:09:45 while the handle of twenty inches, surrounded by a ring of lead plummetes to counterpose the weight of such a blade, rose considerably above the man's head as he rested his arm upon its hilt, waiting for King Richard's further directions. On the sudden entrance of the ladies, Richard, who was then lying on his couch with his face towards the entrance, and resting on his elbow as he spoke to his grisly attendant, flung himself hastily, as if displeased and surprised, to the other side, turning his back to the queen and the females of her train,

Starting point is 08:10:20 and drawing around him the covering of his couch, which, by his own choice, or more probably the flattering selection of his chamberlains, consisted of two large lion-skins, dressed in Venice with such admirable skill, that they seemed softer than the hide of the deer. Berengaria, such as we have described her, knew well, what woman knows not, her own road to victory. After a hurried glance of undisguised and unaffected terror at the ghastly companion of her husband's secret councils, she rushed at once to the side of Richard's couch, dropped on her knees, flung her mantle from a shoulders, showing, as they hung down at their full length, her beautiful golden tresses. And while her countenance seemed like the sun bursting through a cloud, yet bearing on its pallid

Starting point is 08:11:10 front traces that its splendours had been obscured, she seized upon the right hand of the king, which, as he assumed he wanted posture, had been employed in dragging the covering over his couch. And gradually, pulling it to her with a force which was resisted, though but faintly, she possessed herself of that arm the prop of christiandom and the dread of the heatheness and imprisoning its strength in both her little fairy hands she bent upon it her brow and united to it her lips what needs this beringeria said richard his head still averted but his hand remaining under her control send that man away his look kills me muttered beringeria begone sirrah said richard still without looking round what waits thou for art thou fit to look on these ladies your highness pleasure touching the head said the man out with thee dog answered richard a christian burial the man disappeared after casting a look upon the beautiful queen in her deranged dress and natural loveliness with a smile of admiration more hideous on its expression than even his usual scale of cynical hatred against humanity and now foolish wench what wishes thou said richard turning slowly and half reluctantly round to his royal suppliant but it was not in nature for any one far less an admirer of beauty like

Starting point is 08:12:46 richard to whom it stood only in the second rank to glory to look without emotion on the countenance and the terror of a creature so beautiful as berengaria or to feel without sympathy that her lips her brow were on his hand and that it was wetted by her tears by degrees he turned on her his manly countenance with the softest expression of which his large blue eye which so often gleamed with insufferable light was capable caressing a fair head and mingling his large fingers in her beautiful and dishevelled locks he raised and tenderly kissed the cherub countenance which seemed desirous to hide itself in his hand the robust form the broad noble brow and majestic looks the naked arm and shoulder the lion-skins among which he lay and the fair fragile cremine creature that kneeled by his side might have served for a model of hercules's record reconciling himself, after a quarrel to his wife day and error. And, once more, what seeks the lady of my heart in a knight's pavilion at this early and unwanted hour? Pardon, my most gracious liege, pardon, said the queen, whose fears began again to unfit her for the duty of intercessor. Pardon? For what? asked the king.

Starting point is 08:14:10 First, for entering your royal presence too boldly and unadvisedly. she stopped. Thou, too boldly, the sun must as well ask pardon because his rays entered the window of some wretched dungeon. But I was busy with work unfit for thee to witness, my gentle one. And I was unwilling, besides, that thou should risk thy precious health where sickness had been so lately rife. But thou art now well, said the queen, still delaying the communication which she feared to make. Well enough to break a lance on the bold crest of that champion, who shall refuse to acknowledge thee the fairest dame in christiandom thou wilt not then refuse me one boon only one only a poor life ha proceed said king richard bending his brows

Starting point is 08:15:00 this unhappy scottish knight murmured the queen speak not of him madam exclaimed richard sternly he dies his doom is fixed nay my royal liege in love tis but a silken banner neglected beringere will give thee another brooded with her own hand and rich as ever dallyed with the wind every pearl i have shall go to bedeck it and with every pearl i will drop a tear of thankfulness to my generous knight thou know's not what thou sayest said the king interrupting her in anger pearls can all the pearls of these atone for a speck upon england's honour all the tears that ever women's eyes wept wash away a stain on richard's fame go to madam know your place and your time and your sphere at present we have duties in which you cannot be our partner thou hearest edith whispered the queen we shall but incense him be it so said edith stepping forward my lord i your poor kinswoman crave you for justice rather than mercy and to the cry of justice the ears of a monarch should be open at every time place and circumstance ha our cousin edith said richard rising and sitting upright on the side of his couch covered with his long camisca she speaks ever kinglike and kinglike will i answer her so she bring no request unworthy herself or me the beauty of edith was of a more intellectual and less voluptuous cast than that of the queen but impatience and anxiety had given her countenance a glow which it sometimes wanted and her mien had a character of energetic dignity that imposed silence for a moment even on richard himself who to judge by his looks would willingly have interrupted her my lord she said this good knight whose blood you are about to spill hath done in his time service to christiandom

Starting point is 08:17:03 he has fallen from his duty through a snare set for him in mere folly in idleness of spirit a message sent to him in the name of one who why should i not speak it it was my own induced him for an instant to leave his post and what knight in the christian cap might not have thus far transgressed at command of a maiden who poor hassoever in other qualities hath yet the blood of plantagint in her veins and you saw him then cousin replied the king biting his lips to keep down his passion i did my liege said edith it is no time to explain wherefore i am here neither to expulate myself nor to blame others and where did you do him such a grace in the tent of her majesty the queen of our royal consort said richard now by heaven by st george of england and by a real saint that treads its crystal floor this is too audacious i have noticed and overlooked this warrior's insolent admiration of one so far above him and i grudged him not that one of my blood should shed from her high-born sphere such influence as the sun bestows on the world beneath but heaven and earth that you should have admitted him to an audience by night in the very tent of our royal consort and dare to offer this as an excuse for his disobedience and desertion for my father's soul edith thou shalt rule this thy lifelong in a monastery my liege said edith your greatness licensed tyranny my honour lord king is as little touched as yours and my lady the queen can prove it if she think fit but i have already said i am not here to excuse myself or incopulate others i ask you but to extend to one whose fault was committed under strong temptation that mercy which even you yourself lord king must one day supplicated a higher tribunal and for faults perhaps les venial

Starting point is 08:19:08 can this be edith plantagant said the king bitterly edith plantagant the wise and the noble or is it some love-sick woman who cares not for her own fame in comparison of the life of her paramour now by king henry's soul little hinders but i order thy minion's skull to be brought from the gibbet and fixed as a perpetual ornament by the crucifix in thy cell and if thou dost send it from the gibbet to be placed forever in my sight said edith i will say it as a relic of a good knight cruelly and unworthly done to death by-she checked herself by one of whom i shall only say he should have known better how to reward chivalry minion callest thou him she continued with increasing vehemence he was indeed my lover and a most true one but never sought to heed from me by look or word contented with such humble observances as men pay to the saints and the good the valiant the faithful must die for this or peace peace for pity's sake whispered the queen you two but offend him more i cannot said edith the spotless virgin fears not to the raging lion let him work his will on this worthy knight edith for whom he dies will know how to weep his memory to me no one shall speak more of political alliances to be sanctioned with this poor hand i could not i would not not have been his bride living our degrees were too distant but death unites the high and the low i am henceforward the spouse of the grave the king was about to answer with much anger when a carmelite monk entered the apartment hastily his head and person muffled in the long mantle and a hood of striped cloth of the coarse's texture which distinguished his order and flinging himself on his knees before the king conjured him

Starting point is 08:21:07 by every holy word and sign to stop the execution now by both sword and sceptre said richard the world is leagued to drive me mad fools women and monks cross me at every step how comes he to live still my gracious liege said the monk i entreated of the lord of gilsland to stay the execution and to load throred myself at your royal and he was wilful enough to grant thy request said the king but it is a peace with his wanted obstinacy, and what is it thou hast to say, speak in the fiend's name. My lord, there is a weighty secret, but it rests under the seal of confession. I dare not tell or even whisper it, but I swear to thee by my holy order,

Starting point is 08:21:54 by the habit which I wear, by the blessed Elias our founder, even him who was translated without suffering the ordinary pangs of mortality, that this youth has divulged to me a secret, which, if I might confine, it to thee would utterly turn thee from thy bloody purpose in regard to him good father said richard that i reverence the church let the arms which i now wear for her sake bear witness give me to know this secret and i will do what shall seem fitting in the matter but i am no blind beard to take a leap in the dark under the stroke of a pair of priestly spurs my lord said the holy man throwing back his cowl and upper vesture and as a discovering under the latter a garment of goat-skin, and, from beneath the former, a visage so wildly waded by climate, fast, and penance, as to resemble rather the apparition of an animated skeleton than a human face.

Starting point is 08:22:51 For twenty years have I miscreated this miserable body in the caverns of Engadi, doing penance for a great crime. Think you I, who am dead to the world, would contrive a falsehood to endanger my own soul, or that one, bound by the most sacred oaths to the contrary, one such as i who have but one longing wish connected with earth to which the rebuilding of our christian zion would betray the secret of the confessional both are alike abhorrent to my very soul so answered the king thou art the hermit of whom men speak so much thou art i confess like enough to those spirits which walk in dry places but richard fears no hobgoblins and thou art he too as i bethink me to whom the christian prince is sent to this very criminal to an open communication with the Saldan, even while I, who ought to have been first consulted, lay on my sick bed?

Starting point is 08:23:44 Thou and they may content themselves, and will not put my neck into the loop of a Carmelite's girdle. As for your envoy, he shall die the rather and the sooner that thou dost entreat for him. Now God be gracious to thee, Lord King, said the hermit with much emotion. Thou art setting that mischief on foot

Starting point is 08:24:03 which thou wilt hereafter wish thou hadst stopped, though it had cost thee a living, him, rash, blinded man, yet forbear. "'Away, away!' cried the king, stamping. "'The sun has risen on the dishonour of England, "'and it is not yet avenged. "'Ladies and priest withdraw, "'if you would not hear orders which would displease you,

Starting point is 08:24:22 "'for, by St George, I swear—' "'Swear not,' said the voice, "'were just then entered the pavilion. "'Ha, my learned Heme,' said the king, "'come, my hope, to tax our generosity.' I came to request instant speech with you, instant, and touching matters of deep interest. First look on my wife, Akeem, and let her know in you the perseverer of her husband. It is not for me, said the physician, folding his arms with an air of oriental modesty and reverence,

Starting point is 08:24:58 and bending his eyes on the ground. It is not for me to look upon beauty unveiled, unarmed in its splendors. "'Retire, then, Berengaria,' said the monarch. "'And Edith, do you retire also?' "'Nay, renew not your importunities. "'This I give to them that the execution shall not be till high noon.' "'Go and be pacified, dearest Berengaria, be gone. Edith?' "'He added, with a glance which struck terror even into the courageous soul of his kinswoman.

Starting point is 08:25:28 "'Go, if you're wise.' "'The females withdrew, or rather hurried from the tent, rank and ceremony forgotten much like a flock of wild fowl huddled together against whom the falcon has made a recent stoop they returned from thence to the queen's pavilion to indulge in regrets and recriminations equally unavailing edith was the only one who seemed to disdain these ordinary channels of sorrow without a sigh without a tear without a word of upraiding she attended upon the queen whose weak temperament showed her sorrow in violent hysterical ecstasies and passionate hypochondrial effusions, in the course of which Edith sedulously, and even affectionately attended her. "'It is impossible she could have loved this night,' said Floresed Calista, her senior in attendance upon the Queen's person.

Starting point is 08:26:26 "'We have been mistaken. She's but sorry for his fate, "'as for a stranger who has come to trouble on her account.' "'Hush! Hush! Hush! "'Aush!' answered her more experienced and more observant comrade. "'She is of that proud house of Plantagint, "'who never own than to hurt grieves them. "'While they have themselves been bleeding to death under a mortal wound, "'they have been known to bind up the scratches sustained

Starting point is 08:26:51 "'by their more faint-hearted comrades. "'Florades, we have done frightfully wrong, "'and for my own part, "'I would buy with every jewel I have "'that our fatal jest had remained unacted. "'Eend of Chapter 17. chapter eighteen of the talisman this is a librivox recording or the bravox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit librivox dot org recording by lizzie driver the talisman by sir walter scott chapter eighteen this work desires a planetary intelligence of jupiter and soul and those great spirits are proud fantastical

Starting point is 08:27:39 it asks great charges to entice them from the guiding of their spheres to wait on mortals albamazar the hermit followed the ladies from the pavilion of richard a shadow follows a beam of sunshine when the clouds are driving over the face of the sun but he turned on the threshold and held up his hand towards the king in a warning of almost a menacing posture as he said woe to him who rejects the council of the church and betaketh himself to the foul divan of the infidel king richard i do not yet shake the dust from my feet and depart from thy encampment the sword falls not but it hangs by her hair haughty monarch we shall meet again be it so haughty priest returned richard Proud are unlike goat-skins and princes in purple and fine linen. The hermit vanished from the tent, and the king continued addressing the Arabian. Do the dervishes of the east, why, Sakeem, use such familiarity with their princes? The dervish, replied Adam Beck, should be either a sage or a madman. There is no middle course for him who wears the kyrkar.

Starting point is 08:28:52 Literally the torn robe. The habit of the dervishes is so called. who walks by night and fast by day hence hath he either wisdom enough to bear himself discreetly in the presence of princes or else having no reason bestowed on him he is not responsible for his own actions methinks our monks have adopted chiefly the latter character said richard but to the matter in what can i pleasure you my learned physician great king said el hakeem making his profound oriental obeisance let thy servant speak one word and yet live i would remind thee that thou owest not to me their humble instrument but to the intelligences whose benefits i dispense to mortals a life and i warrant me thou wast have another requital ha interrupted the king such is my humble prayer said the hecim to the great melachric even the life of this good knight who is doomed to die and but for such fault as was committed by the Sultan Adam, surnamed Albesgar, or the father of all men. And thy wisdom might remind thee, Hakeem, that Adam died for it,

Starting point is 08:30:12 said the king, somewhat sternly, and then began to pace the narrow space of his tent with some emotion, and talked to himself. Why, God a mercy, I knew what he desired as soon as he even entered the pavilion. Here is one poor life justly condemned to extinction, and I, a king and a soldier, who have slain thousands by my command and scores with my own hand, am to have no power over it, although the honour of my arms, of my house, of my very queen, had been attained by the culprit. By St. George, it makes me laugh. By St. Louis, it reminds me of Blondell's tale of an enchanted castle,

Starting point is 08:30:51 where the destined knight was withstood successively in his purpose of entrance, by forms and figures the most dissimilar. but all hostile to his undertaking. No sooner one sunk than another appeared. Wife, kinswoman, hermit, hakeem, each appears in the list as soon as the other is defeated. Why, this is a single night fighting against the whole mealy of the tournament. Ha, ha, ha. And Richard laughed aloud,

Starting point is 08:31:18 for he had, in fact, begun to change his mood, his resentment being usually too violent to be of long endurance. The physician, meanwhile, looked on him with a countenance of surprise, not unmingled with contempt. For the Eastern people make no allowance for these mercurial changes in the temper, and consider open laughter upon almost any account as derogatory to the dignity of man, and becoming only to women and children. At length the sage addressed the king when he saw him more composed. A doom of death should not issue from laughing,

Starting point is 08:31:54 lips. Let thy servant hope that thou hast granted him this man's life. Take the freedom of a thousand captives instead, said Richard. Restores so many of thy countrymen to thy tents and families, and I will give the warrant instantly. This man's life can avail thee nothing, and it is forfeited. All our lives are forfeited, said the Hakeem, putting his hand to his cap. But the great creator is merciful, and extracts not the pledge for rigorously nor untimely. Thou can't show me, said Richard,

Starting point is 08:32:31 no special interest thou hast to become intercessor betwixt me and the execution of justice, to which I am sworn as a crowned king. Thou art sworn to the dealing forth mercy as well as justice, said El-Hakim. But what thou seekest, great king, is the execution of thine own will? And for the concern I have in this request,

Starting point is 08:32:55 know that many a man's life depends upon thy granting this boon. Explain thy words, said Richard, but think not to impose upon me by false pretexts. Be it far from thy servant, said Adam Beck, know them that the medicine to which thou, Sir King, and many one besides owe their recovery, is a talisman, composed under certain aspects of the heavens, when the divine intelligences are most propitious i am but the poor administrator of its virtues i dip it in a cup of water observe the fitting hour to administer it to the patient and the potency of the draught works the cure

Starting point is 08:33:41 a most rare medicine said the king and a commodious and as it may be carried in the leeches purse would save the whole caravan of camels which they require to convey drugs and physic stuff I marvel there is any other in use. It is written, answered the Hakeem, with imperturbable gravity. Abuse not the steed which hath borne thee from the battle. No, that such talismans might indeed be framed, but rare has been the number of adepts who have dared to undertake the application of their virtue.

Starting point is 08:34:19 Severe restrictions, painful observances, fast and penance, are necessary on the part of the sage who uses this mode of cure. And if, through neglect of these preparations, by his love of ease, or his indulgence of sensual appetite, he omits to cure at least twelve persons within the course of each moon, the virtue of the divine gift departs from the amulet, and both the last patient and the physician will be exposed to speedy misfortune.

Starting point is 08:34:49 Neither will they survive the year. I require yet one life to make up the same, appointed number. Go out into the camp-gutakim, where thou wilt find a many, said the king, and do not seek to rob my headsman of his patience. It is unbecoming a mediciner of thine eminence to interfere with the practice of another. Besides, I cannot see how delivering a criminal from the death he deserves should go to make up thy tell of miraculous cures. When thou can show why a draught of cold water should have cured thee when the most precious as drugs failed, said the Hakeem, thou mayest reason on the other mysteries attendant on this

Starting point is 08:35:30 matter. For myself, I am inefficient to the great work, having this morning touched an unclean animal. Ask therefore no further questions. It is enough that, by sparing this man's life at my request, you will deliver yourself, great king, and thy servant, from a great danger. Hark the Adam Beck, replied the king. They have no objection that Leachish should wrap their words in mist, and pretend to derive knowledge from the stars. But when you bid Richard Plantagent to fear that a danger will fall upon him from some idle omen, or omitted ceremonial, you speak to no ignorant Saxon or doting old woman, who forgows her purpose because a hair crosses the path, a raven croaks, or a cat sneezes. I cannot hinder your doubt of my words, said Adam Beck, but she had led my lord

Starting point is 08:36:24 the king grant that truth is on the tongue of his servant. Will he think it just to deprive the world, and every wretch who may suffer by the pains which so lately reduced him to that couch, of the benefit of this most virtuous talisman, rather than extend his forgiveness to one poor criminal? Thank you, Lord King, that though thou thou thou canstle not restore one man to health. Kings have the power of Satan to torment,

Starting point is 08:36:53 sages that are valor to heal. beware how thy hinderest the good of humanity which thou canst not thyself render thou canst cut of the head but not cure the aching tooth this is over-insolent said the king hardening himself as the hakeem assumed a more lofty and almost a commanding tone we take thee for our leech not for our counsellor or conscience-keeper and it is thus the most renowned prince of ragasthan repays benefit done to his royal purpose person, said El Haim, exchanging the humble and stooping posture in which he had hitherto solicited the king, for an attitude lofty and commanding. "'No, then,' he said, "'that every court of Europe and Asia, to Muslim and Nazarene, to knight and lady, wherever harp is heard and sword worn, wherever honour is loved and infaminy detested.

Starting point is 08:37:52 To every quarter of the world will I denounce thee, Melachrikh, as thankless and ungenerous. And even the lands, if there be any such, that never heard of thy renown, shall yet be acquainted with thy shame. Are these terms to me vile infidel? said Richard, striding up to him in fury. Art weary of thy life? Strike, said El Hakim. Thine own deed shall then paint thee more worthless than could my words,

Starting point is 08:38:21 though each had a hornet's sting. Richard turned fiercely from him, folded his arms, traversed the tentors before, and then exclaimed, Thankless and ungenerous, as we'll be termed cowed and infidel. Hakeem, thou hast chosen thy boon, and thou I had rather thou haste asked my crown jewels, yet I may not, kinglike, refuse thee. Take the scot, therefore, to thy keeping. The provost will deliver him to thee on this warrant.

Starting point is 08:38:51 He hastily traced one or two lines, and gave them to the physician. use him as thy bond-slave to be disposed of as thou wilt only let him beware how he comes before the eyes of richard hark thee thou art wise he hath been overbold among those in whose fair looks and weak judgments we trust our honour as you of the east lodge your treasures in casks of silver wire as fine and as frail as the whip of a gossamer thy servant understands the words of the king said the sage at once resuming the reverent style of a a dress in which he had commenced when the rich carpet is soiled the fool pointeth to the stain the wise man covers it with his mantle i have heard my lord's pleasure and to hear is to obey it is well said the king let him consult his own safety and never appear in my presence more iser all else in which i may do thee pleasure the bounty of the king hath filled my cup to the brim said the sage ye it hath been abundant as the fountain which sprung up amid the camp of the descendants of israel when the rock was stricken by the rod of mosah ben amram ay but said the king smiling it required as in the desert a hard blow on the rock ere it yielded its treasures i would that i knew something to pleasure thee which i might yield as freely as the natural fountain sends forth its waters let me touch that victorious hand said the sage in token that if adam beck el hakeem should hereafter demand a boon of richard of england he may do so yet plead his command thou hast hand and glove upon it man

Starting point is 08:40:43 replied richard only if thou couldst consistently make up thy tale of patience without craving me to deliver from punishment those who have deserved it i would more willingly discharge my debt in some other form may thy days be multiplied answered the hecim and withdrew from the apartment after the usual deep obeisance king richard gazed after him as he departed like one but half satisfied with what had passed strange pertinacity he said in this heme and a wonderful chance to interfere between that audacious scot and the chastisement he has merited so richly he had let him live there is one brave man the more in the world and now for the austrian ho is the baron of gillsland there without sir thomas de vorks thus summoned his bulky form speedily darkened the opening of the pavilion while behind him glided as a spectre unannounced unannounced yet unopposed the savage form of the hermit of ingadi wrapped in his goat-skin mantle richard without noticing his presence called in a loud tone to the baron sir thomas de vaux of lanacost and gillsland take trumpet and herald and go instantly to the tent of him whom they call archduke of austria and see when it be when the press of his knights and vassals is greatest around him and is likely at this hour for the german bore breakfasts ere he hears mass enter his presence with as little reverence as thou mayest, and impeach him, on the part of Richard of England, that he hath this knight, by his own hand, or that of others, stolen from its staff the banner of England.

Starting point is 08:42:26 Wherefore say to him our pleasure that within an hour from the time of my speaking, he restored the said banner with all reverence, he himself and his principal barons, waiting the whilst, with heads uncovered, and without their robes of honour. and that, moreover, he pitch it beside it, on the one hand, his own manner of Austria reversed, as that which had been dishonoured by theft and felony, and on the other a lance, bearing the bloody head of him who was his nearest counsellor or assistant, in this base injury, and say that such our behest be impunctually discharged we will, for the sake of our vall and the wheel of the Holy Land, forgive his other forfeits.

Starting point is 08:43:07 And how, if the Duke of Austria deny all accession to this, act of wrong and a felony, said Thomas to Vorks. Tell him, replied the king, we will prove it upon his body, were he backed with his two bravest champions. Night like we will prove it, on foot or on horse, in the desert or in the field, time, place, and darms all at his own choice. Bethink you of the peace of God and the church, my liege, Lord, said the Baron of Gilsland, among those princes engaged in this holy crusade.

Starting point is 08:43:41 "'Bethinking you how to execute my commands, my liege vassal,' answered Richard impatiently. "'Methyst men expect to turn our purpose by their breath, as boys blow feathers to and fro. "'Pease of the church! Who, oh, prithee, minds it! "'The peace of the church, among crusaders, implies war with the Saracens, with whom the princes have made truce, "'and the one ends with the other. "'And besides, see you not how every prince of them is seeking his own several ends? I will seek mine also, and that is honour. For honour I came hither, and if I may not win it upon the Saracens,

Starting point is 08:44:17 at least I will not lose a jot from any respect to this paltry duke, though he were bulwarked and buttressed by every prince of the crusade. De Vork's turn to obey the king's mandate, shrug in his shoulders at the same time, the bluntness of his nature being unable to conceal that its tenor went against his judgment. But the hermit of Ngadi stepped forward, and assumed, the air of one charged with higher commands than those of a mere earthly potentate. Indeed, his dress of shaggy skins, his uncombed and untrimmed hair and beard, his lean, wild, and contorted features, and the almost insane fire which gleamed from under his bushy eyebrows,

Starting point is 08:44:57 made him approach nearly to our idea of some seer of scripture, who, charged with high mission to the sinful kings of Judea or Israel, descended from the rocks and cabins in which he dwelt in abstracted solitude, to abash earthly tyrants in the myths of their pride, by discharging denunciations of divine majesty, even as the cloud discharges the lightnings, with which disfraught on the pinnacles and towers of castles and palaces. In the midst of his most wayward mood, Richard respected the church and its ministers, and though offended at the intrusion of the hermit into his tent, he greeted him with respect. At the same time, however, making a sign to Sir Thomas DeVorke's to hasten on his message.

Starting point is 08:45:46 But the hermit prohibited the Baron, by gesture, look, and word, to stir a yard on such an errand, and, holding up his bare arm, from which the goatskin mantle fell back in the violence of his action, he waved at aloft, meagre with famine, and wheeled with the blows of discipline. In the name of God and of the Most Holy Father, the vice-terrant of the Christian church upon earth,

Starting point is 08:46:12 I prohibit this most profane, bloodthirsty, and brutal defiance between its two Christian princes, whose shoulders are siege with the blessed mark under which they swore brotherhood? Woed to him by whom it is broken. Richard of England, recall the most unhallowed message thou has given to that baron. Danger and death are nigh thee, the dagger is glancing at thy very throat. Danger and death are playmates to Richard.

Starting point is 08:46:37 answered the monarch proudly. Antietteath braved too many swords to fear a dagger. Danger and death are near, replied the seer, and sinking his voice to a hollow, unearthly, Tony added, and after death the judgment. Good and holy father, said Richard, I reverence thy person and thy sanctity.

Starting point is 08:47:00 Reverence, not me, interrupted the hermit. Reverence sooner the vile insect that cruel, by the shore of the dead sea, and feeds upon its accursed slime. But reverence him who commands, I speak, reverence him whose sepulchlor you have vowed to rescue, revere the oath of concord which you have sworn, and break not the silver cord of union and fidelity,

Starting point is 08:47:24 with which you have bound yourself to your princely confederates. "'Good father,' said the king, "'you of the church seemed to me to presume somewhat, "'if a layman may say so much, upon the dignity of your holy character. Without challenging your right to take charge of our conscience, we thinks you might leave us the charge of our own honour. Presume, replied the hermit,

Starting point is 08:47:48 it is for me to presume, Royal Richard. Who am but the bell obeying the hand of the sexton? But the senseless and worthless trumpet carrying the command of him who sounds it. See, on my knees, I throw myself before thee, imploring thee to have mercy on Christendom, on England, and on thyself. Rise, rise, said Richard, compelling him to stand up. It beseems not that knees, which are so frequently bended to the deity,

Starting point is 08:48:17 should press the ground in honour of man. What danger awaits us, Reverend Father? And when stood the power of England so low that the noisy bluster of this new-made Duke's displeasure should alarm her or her monarch? I have looked forth from my mountain turret upon the starry host of heaven, as each in his midnight circuit uttered wisdom to another a knowledge to the few who can understand their voice there sits an enemy in thy house of life lord king malign at once to thy fame and thy prosperity an emanation of saturn menacing thee with instant and bloody peril and which but thou yield thy proud will to the rule of thy deity will presently crush thee even in thy pride away away this is heathen science

Starting point is 08:49:05 said the king christians practise it not wise men believe it not old man thou dotest i do't not richard answered the hermit i am not so happy i know my condition and that some portion of reason is yet permitted me not for my own use but that of the church and the advancement of the cross i am the blind man who holds a torch to others which yields no light to himself ask me touching what concerns the wheel of Christendom and of this crusade, and I will speak with thee as the wisest counsellor on whose tongue persuasion ever sat, speak to me of my own wretched being, and my word to be those of the maniac outcast which I am. I would not break the band of unity asunder among the princes of the crusade, said Richard, with a mitigated tone and manner. But what attonement can they render me for the injustice and insult which I have sustained? Even of that I am prepared and commissioned to speak by the council, which, meeting hastily at the summons of Philip of France, have taken measures

Starting point is 08:50:11 for that effect. Strange, replied Richard, that others should treat of what is due to the wounded majesty of England. They are willing to anticipate your demands, if it be possible, answered the hermit. In a body, they consent that the banner of England be replaced on St. George's Mount, and they lay under ban and condemnation the audacious criminal or criminals by whom it was outraged and will announce a princely reward to any who shall denounce the delinquent's guilt and give his flesh to the wolves and ravens and austria said richard upon whom rest such strong presumptions that he was the author of the deed to prevent discord in the host replied the hermit austria will clear himself of the suspicion by submitting to whatsoever order the deed the patriarch of Jerusalem shall impose. Will he clear himself by the trial by combat? said King Richard.

Starting point is 08:51:11 His oath prohibits it, said the hermit. And, moreover, the Council of the Prince is, will neither authorise battle against the Saracens, interrupted Richard, nor against anyone else. But it is enough, father, that was shown me the folly of proceedings as I designed in this matter. You shall sooner light your torch in a puddle of rain, then bring a spark out of a cold-blooded coward. There is no honour to be gained on Austria, and so let him pass.

Starting point is 08:51:42 I will have him perjure himself, however. I will insist on the ordeal. How I shall laugh to hear his clumsy fingers hiss, as he grasps the red-hot globe of iron. Aye, or his huge mouth riven, and his gullet swelling to suffocation as he endeavours to swallow the consecrated bread. Peace, Richard, said the hermit.

Starting point is 08:52:02 Oh, peace for shame, if not for charity. Who shall praise or honour princes who insults and calunate each other? Alas! that a creature so noble as thou art. So accomplished and princely thoughts and princely daring, so fitted to honour Christendom by thy actions, and, in thy calmer mood, to rule her by thy wisdom, should yet have the brute and wild fury of the lion mingled with the dignity and courage of that king of the forest.

Starting point is 08:52:29 He remained an instant musing with his eyes fixed on the ground, and then proceeded, but heaven that knows our imperfect nature accepts of our imperfect obedience and hath delayed though not averted the bloody end of thy daring life the destroying angel hath stood still as of old by the threshing-floor of aruna the jebazite and the blade is drawn in his hand by which at no distant date richard the lion-hearted shall be as low as the meanest peasant must it then be so soon said richard yet even so be it may my course be bright if it be but brief alas noble king said the solitary and it seemed as if a tear unwonted guest were gathering in his dry and glazen short and melancholy marked with mortification and calamity and captivity is the span that divides thee from the grave which yawns for thee a grave in which thou shalt be laid without lineage to succeed thee without the tears of a people exhausted by thy ceaseless wars to lament thee without having extended the knowledge of thy subjects without having done aught to enlarge their happiness but not without renown monk not without the tears of the lady of my love these consolations which thou canst neither know nor estimate await upon richard to his grave do i not know can i not estimate the value of minstall's praise and of lady's love retorted the hermit

Starting point is 08:54:08 do i not know can i not estimate the value of minstrel's praise and of ladies love retorted the hermit in a tone which for a moment seemed to emulate the enthusiasm of richard himself king of england he continued extending his image emaciated arm the blood which boils in thy blue veins is not more noble than that which stagnates in mine few and cold as the drops are they still are of the blood of the royal luscanon of the heroic and sainted godfrey i am that is i was when in the world albrick mortimer whose deeds said richard have so often filled fame's trumpet is it so can it be so could such a like as thine fall from the horizon of chivalry, and yet men be uncertain where its embers have alighted. Seek a fallen star, said the hermit, and thou shalt only light on some foul jelly, which, in shooting through the horizon, has assumed for a moment an appearance of splendour. Richard, if I thought that rending the bloody veil for my horrible fate could make thy proud heart stooped the discipline of the church, I could find in my heart to tell thee a tale.

Starting point is 08:55:27 which I have hitherto kept gnawing at my vitals in concealment. Like the self-devoted youth of heathiness. Listen then, Richard, and may the grief and despair which cannot avail this wretched remnant of what was once a man be as powerful as an example to so noble, yet so wild a being as thou art. Yes, I will. I will tear open the long-hidden wounds, although in thy very presence they should bleed to death. Richard, upon whom the history of Albrook of Mortimer, had made a deep impression in his early years, when Winstrels were regaling his father's halls with legends of the Holy Land, listened with respect to the outlines of a tale, which, darkly and imperfectly sketched,

Starting point is 08:56:10 indicated sufficiently the cause of the partial insanity of this singular and most unhappy being. I need not, he said, tell thee that I was noble in birth, high in fortune. strong in arms, wise in counsel. All this I was. But, while the noblest ladies in Palestine strove, which should wind garlands from my helmet, my love was fixed, unalterably and devotedly fixed, on a maiden of low degree. Her father, an ancient soldier of the cross, saw our passion, and, knowing the difference betwixt us, saw no other refuge for his daughter's honour, then to place her within the shadow of the cloister. I returned, from a distant expedition, loaded with spoils and honour, to find my happiness was destroyed

Starting point is 08:56:58 forever. I, too, sought the cloister, and Satan, who had marked me for his own, breathed into my heart a vapour of spiritual pride, which could only have had its source in his own infernal regions. I had risen as high in the church as before in the state. I was, forsooth, the wise, the self-sufficient, the impeachable. I was the counsellor of councils. I was a director of prelates. How should I stumble? Wherefore should I fear temptation? Alas! I became confessor to a sisterhood. And amongst that sisterhood, I found the long-lived, the long-lost. Spare my further confession. A fallen nun, whose guilt was avenged by self-murder, sleep soundlessly in the vaults of Ingadi. While above her very grey,

Starting point is 08:57:51 gibbers moans and roars a creature to whom but so much reason is left as may suffice to render him completely sensible to his fate unhappy man said richard i wonder no longer at thy misery how didst thou escape the doom which the canons denounced against thy offence ask one who is yet in the gall of worldly bitterness said the hermit and he will speak of a life spared for personal respects and from consideration to high birth. But Richard, I tell thee that Providence hath preserved me to lift me on high, as a light and beacon, whose ashes, when this earthly fuel is burnt out, must yet be flung into the tofet. Withered and shrunk as his poor form is, it is yet animated with two spirits, one active, shrewd, and piercing, to advocate the cause of the Church of Jerusalem. One mean, abject and despairing. Flructuating, fluctuating, but between madness and misery, to mourn over my own wretchedness, and to guard holy relics on which it would be most sinful for me even to cast my eye.

Starting point is 08:59:00 Pity me not. It is but sin to pity the loss of such an abject. Pity me not, but profit from my example. Thou standest on the highest, and therefore on the most dangerous pinnacle occupied by any Christian prince. thou art proud of heart loose of life bloody of hand put from thee the sins which art of thee as daughters though they be dear to the sinful adam expel these adopted furies from thy breast thy pride thy luxury thy bloodthirstiness he raves said richard turning from the solitary to divorce as one who felt some pain from a sarcasm which yet he could not resent then turned him calmly and somewhat scornfully to the anchorite as he replied thou hast found a fair bury of daughter's reverend father to one who hath been but a few months married but since i must put them from my roof it were but like a father to provide them with suitable matches therefore i will part with my pride to the noble canons of the church my luxury as thou callest it to the monks of the rule and my bloodthirstiness to the knights of the temple and my bloodthirstiness to the knights of the temple "'Oh, heart of steel and hand of iron,' said the anchorite, "'upon whom example, as well as advice, is alike thrown away.

Starting point is 09:00:25 "'Yet shalt thou be spared for a season, "'in case it be thou shouldst turn, "'and do that which is acceptable in the sight of heaven. "'For me I must return to my place. "'Kairie a lison. "'I am he through whom the rays of heavenly grace dart "'like those of the sun through a burning glass. concentrating them on other objects, until they kindle and blaze,

Starting point is 09:00:49 while the glass itself remains cold and uninfluenced. Kyri Elison, the poor must be called, for the rich have refused the banquet. Kaira Lisson. So saying, he burst from the tent, uttering loud cries. A mad priest, said Richard, from whose mind the frantic exclamations of the hermit had partly obliterated the impression produced by the detail of his personal history and misfortunes. After him divorce, and see he comes to no harm, for, crusaders as we are,

Starting point is 09:01:26 a juggler hath more reverence against avarles than a priest or a saint, and they may, perchance, put some scorn upon him. The knight obeyed, and Richard presently gave way to the thoughts which the wild prophecy of the monk had inspired. to die early without lineage without lamentation a heavy sentence and while that it is not passed by a more competent judge yet the saracens who are accomplished in mystical knowledge will often maintain that he in whose eyes the wisdom of the sage is but as folly inspires wisdom and prophecy into the seeming folly of the madman yonder hermit is said to read the stars too an art generally practised in these lands where the heavenly host was of yore the object of adultery. I would I had asked him touching the loss of my banner. For not the blessed Hishbite, the founder of his order,

Starting point is 09:02:23 could seem more wildly wrapped out of himself, or speak with the tongue more resembling that of a prophet. Oh now, De Vorks, what news of the mad priest? Mad priest, call you him, my lord? Answered, De Vorks. Me thinks he resembles more the Blessed Baptist himself, just issued from the wilderness. he hath placed himself for one of the military engines and from thence he preaches to the soldiers as never man preached since the time of peter the hermit the camp alarmed by his cries crowd around him in thousands

Starting point is 09:02:58 and breaking off every now and then from the main thread of discourse he addresses the several nations each in their own language and presses upon each the arguments best qualified to urge them to perseverance in the delivery of palestine by this light a noble hermit said king richard but what else could come from the blood of godfrey he despair of safety because he hath in former days lived paramours i will have the pope send him an ample remission and i would not less willingly be intercessor had his bell and me been an abbess as he spoke the archbishop of tyre craved audience for the purpose of requesting richard's attendance should his health permit on a secret conclave of the chiefs of the crusade, and to explain to him the military and political incidents which had occurred during his illness. End of Chapter 18. Chapter 19 of the Talisman.

Starting point is 09:04:07 This is a Libravox recording. All Libravox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Libravox.org. Recording by Lizzie Driver The Talisman by Sir Walter Scott. chapter nineteen must we then sheathe our still victorious sword turn back our forward step whichever trod o foreman's necks the onward path of glory and clasped the male which with a solemn vow in god's own house we hung upon our shoulders that vow as unaccomplished as the promise which village nurses make to still their children and after think no more of the crusade a tragedy the archbishop of tyre was a nemesary well chosen to communicate to richard tidings which from another voice the lion-hearted king were not abrooked to hear without the most unbounded explosions of resentment

Starting point is 09:05:06 even this sagacious and revered prelate found difficulty in inducing him to listen to news which destroyed all his hopes of gaining back the holy sepulchre by force of arms and acquiring the renown which the universal all hail of christiandom was ready to confer upon him as a champion of the cross. But, by the Archbishop's report, it appeared that Saladin was assembling all the force of his hundred tribes, and that the monarchs of Europe, already discussed it from various motives with the expedition, which approved so hazardous, and was daily growing more so, had resolved to abandon their purpose.

Starting point is 09:05:48 In this they were countenanced by the example of Philippa France, who, with many prostations, of regard and assurances that he would first see his brothers of England in safety, declared his intention to return to Europe. His great vassal, the Earl of Champagne, had adopted the same resolution, and it cannot excite surprise that Leopold of Austria, affronted as he had been by Richard, was glad to embrace an opportunity of deserting a cause in which his haughty opponent was to be considered as chief.

Starting point is 09:06:22 Others announced the same purpose. so that it was plain that the King of England was to be left, if he chose to remain, supported only by such volunteers as might, under such depressing circumstances, join themselves to the English army. And, by the doubtful aid of Conrad of Montserrat and the military orders of the Temple and of St. John, who, though they were sworn to wage battle against the Saracens, were at least equally jealous of any European monarch achieving the conquest of Palestine. where, with short-sighted and selfish policy,

Starting point is 09:06:58 they proposed to establish independent dominions of their own. It needed, not many arguments, to show Richard the truth of his situation. And, indeed, after his first burst of passion, he sat him calmly down, and, with gloomy looks, head depressed, and arms folded on his bosom, listened to the archbishop's reasoning on the impossibility of his carrying on the crusade when deserted by his companions.

Starting point is 09:07:29 Nay, he forbore interruption, even when the prelate ventured, in measured terms, to hint that Richard's own impetuosity had been one main cause of disgusting the princes with the expedition. Confetor, answered Richard, with a dejected look, and something of a melancholy smile. I confess, Reverend Father, that I ought on some accounts to sing Kalpamea,

Starting point is 09:07:54 but is it not hard that my friend, frailties of temper should be visited with such a penance, that, for a burst or two of natural passion, I should be doomed to see fate before me, ungathered such a rich harvest of glory to God and honour to chivalry, but it shall not fade. By the soul of the conqueror, I will plant the cross in the towers of Jerusalem, or it shall be planted over Richard's grave. "'Thou mayest do it,' said the prelate, "'yet not another drop of Christian blood be shed in the quarrel.' "'Ah, you speak of compromise, Lord prelate,

Starting point is 09:08:28 "'but the blood of the infidel hands must also cease to flow,' said Richard. "'There will be glory enough,' replied the archbishop, "'in having exhorted from Saladin by force of arms, "'and by the respect inspired by your fame, "'such conditions as at once restore the holy sepulchre, "'open the holy land to pilgrims, "'secure their safety by strong fortresses, "'and, stronger than all,

Starting point is 09:08:55 assure the safety of the holy city, by conferring on Richard the title of King Guardian of Jerusalem. How? said Richard, his eyes sparkling with unusual light. I, I, the King Guardian of the Holy City, victory itself, but that it is victory could not gain more, scarce so much, when one with unwilling and disunited forces. But Saladin still proposes to retain his interest in the Holy Land? as a joint sovereign the sworn ally replied the prelate of the mighty richard his relative if it may be permitted by marriage by marriage said richard surprised yet less so than the prelate had expected ha ay edith plantagant did i dream this or did some one tell me my head is still weak from this fever and has been agitated was it the scott or the hekin, or yonder holy hermit that hinted such a wild bargain. The hermit of Ingadi most likely, said the archbishop, for he hath twilled much in this matter,

Starting point is 09:10:08 and since the discontent of the princes had become apparent, and a separation of their forces unavoidable, he hath had many consultations, both with Christian and pagan, for arranging such a pacification as may give to Christendom, at least in part, the object of this holy warfare. my kinswoman to an invadale ha exclaimed richard as his eyes began to sparkle the prelate hastened to avert his wrath the pope's consent must doubtless be first attained and the holy hermit who is well known at rome will treat with the holy father how without our consent first given said the king surely no said the bishop in a quieting and insinuating tone of voice only with and under your especial sanction my sanction to marry my kinswoman to an infidel said richard yet he spoke rather in a tone of doubt than as distinctly reprobating the measure proposed could i have dreamed of such a composition when i leaped upon the syrian shore from the prow of my galley even as a lion springs on his prey and now but proceed i will hear with patience equally delighted and surprised to find his task so much easier than he had apprehended the archbishop hastened to pour forth before richard the instances of such an alliance in spain not without countenance from the holy sea

Starting point is 09:11:41 the incalculable advantages which all christiandom would derive from the union of richard and saladin by a bond so sacred and above all he spoke with great vehemence an unction on the probability that saladin would in case of the proposed alliance exchange his false faith for the true one hath the soldier hath any disposition to become christian said richard if so the king lives not on earth to whom i would grant the hand of a kinswoman i or a sister sooner than to my noble saladin ay that the one came to lay crown and sceptre at her feet and the other had nothing to offer but his good sword and better heart saladin hath heard our christian teachers said the bishop somewhat evasively my unworthy self and others and as he listens with patience and replies with calmness it can hardly be that he be snatched as a brand from the burning magna est veritas et prevalibate moreover the hermit of a gaddy few of whose words have fallen fruitless to the ground is possessed fully with the belief that there is a calling of the saracens and the other heathen approaching to which this marriage shall be matter of induction he readeth the course of the stars and dwelling with maceration of the flesh in those divine places which the saints have trodden of old the spirit of elijah the tishbite the founder of his blessed order hath been with him as it was with the prophet elisha the son of sapphatt when he spread his mantle over him king richard listened to the prelate's reasoning with a downcast brow and a troubled look I cannot tell, he said, how it is with me,

Starting point is 09:13:32 but methinks these cold councils of the princes of Christendom have infected me too with a lethargy of spirit. The time hath been that, had a layman proposed such an alliance to me, I had struck him to earth. If a churchman, I had spitted him as a renegade and priest a ball. Yet now this council sounds not so strange in my ear. For why should I not seek for brotherhood in alliance with the Saracen,

Starting point is 09:13:55 brave, just, generous, who loves and honors a worthy foe, as if you were a friend, whilst the princes of Christendom shrink from the side of their allies, and forsake the cause of heaven and good knighthood? But I will possess my patience, and will not think of them. Only one attempt will I make to keep this gallant brotherhood together, if it be possible. And if I fail, Lord Archbishop, we will speak together of thy counsel, which, as now, I neither accept, nor altogether reject when d'we to the council my lord the hour calls us thou sayest richard is hasty and proud thou shalt see him humble himself like the lowly broom-plant from which he derives his surname

Starting point is 09:14:40 with the assistance of those in his priory chamber the king then hastily robed himself in a doublet and mantle of a dark and uniform colour and without any mark of real dignity excepting a ring of gold upon his head he hastened with the archbishop of higher to attend the council which waited but his presence to commence his sitting the pavilion of the council was an ample tent having before it the large banner of the cross displayed and another on which was portrayed a female kneeling with dishevelled hair and assorted dress meant to represent the desolate and distressed church of jerusalem and bearing the motto afflicate sponse ne oblivisgaris ward as carefully selected kept everyone at a distance from the neighbourhood of this tent lest the debates which were sometimes of a loud and stormy character should reach other ears than those they were designed for here therefore the princes of the crusade were assembled awaiting richard's arrival and even the brief delay which was thus interposed was turned to his disadvantage by his enemies various insistences being circulated of his pride and undue assumption of superiority of which even the necessity of the present short pause was quoted as an instant. Men strove to fortify each other in their evil opinion of the King of England, and vindicated the offence which each had taken,

Starting point is 09:16:11 by putting the most severe criticism upon circumstances most trifling. And all this, perhaps, because they were conscious of an instinctive reverence for the heroic monarch, which it would require more than ordinary efforts to overcome. they had settled accordingly that they should receive him on his entrance with slight notice and no more respect than was exactly necessary to keep within the bounds of cold ceremonial but when they beheld that noble form that princely countenance somewhat pale from his late illness the eye which had been called by minstrels the bright star of battle and victory when his feats almost surpassing human strength and valor rushed on their recollection the council of princes simultaneously arose even the jealous king of france and the sullen and offended duke of austria arose with one consent and the assembled princes burst forth with one voice in the acclamation god save king richard of england long life to the valiant lion's heart with the countenance frank and open as the summer sun when it rises richard distributed his thanks around and congratulated himself on being once more among his royal royal royal old brethren of the crusade.

Starting point is 09:17:29 Some brief words he desired to say. Such was his address to the assembly, though on a subject unworthy as himself, even at the risk of delaying for a few minutes their consultations for the wheel of Christendom and the advancements of the Holy Enterprise. The assembled princes resumed their seats, and there was a profound silence.

Starting point is 09:17:52 This day, continued the King of England, is a high festival of the church, and it will becomes Christian men, at such a tide, to reconcile themselves with their brethren, and confess their faults to each other. Noble princes and fathers of this holy expedition, Richard is a soldier, his hand is ever readier than his tongue, and his tongue is but too much used to the rough language of his trade. But do not, for Plantagant's hasty speeches and ill-considered actions, the sake the noble cause of the redemption of Palestine.

Starting point is 09:18:26 Do not throw away earthly renown and internal salvation, to be won here if ever they can be won by man, because the act of a soldier may have been hasty, and his speech as hard as the iron which he has worn from childhood? Is Richard in default to any of you? Richard will make compensation both by word and action. Noble brother of France, have I been so unlucky as to offend you? The Majesty of France has no atonement to say,

Starting point is 09:18:52 seek from that of england answered philip with kingly dignity accepting at the same time the offered hand of richard and whatever opinion i may adopt concerning the prosecution of this enterprise will depend on reasons arising out of the state of my own kingdom certainly on no jealousy or disgust at my royal and most valorous brother austria said richard walking up to the archduke with a mixture of frankness and dignity while leopold arose from his seat as if involuntarily and with the action of an automaton whose motions depended upon some external impulse austria thinks he hath reason to be offended with england england that he hath caused to complain of austria let them exchange forgiveness that the peace of europe and the concord of this host may remain unbroken we are now joined to support as of a more glorious banner than ever blazed before an earthly prince even the banner of salvation let not therefore strife be betwixt us for the symbol of our more worldly dignities but let leopold restore the pennon of england if he has it in its power and richard will say though from no motive save his love for holy church that he repents him of the hasty mood in which he did insult the standard of austria the archduke stood still sullen and discontented with his eyes fixed on the floor and in his countenance luring with smothered displeasure, which awe, mingled with awkwardness, prevented his giving vent to win words. The patriarch of Jerusalem hastened to break the embarrassing silence, and to bear witness for the Archduke of Austria,

Starting point is 09:20:40 the Teard exculpated himself, by a solemn oath, from all knowledge, direct or indirect, of the aggression done to the banner of England. Then we have done the noble Archduke the greater wrong, said Richard, and craved. his pardon for imputing to him an outrage so cowardly, we extend our hand to him in token of renewed peace and enmity. But how is this? Austria refuses our uncovered hand, as he formerly refused our mailed glove? What? Are we neither to be as mate in peace, nor his antagonist in war? Will it be so? We will take the slight esteem in which he holds us as a penance for aught which we may have done against him in heat of blood, and we'll therefore hold the account between us

Starting point is 09:21:25 cleared. So saying, he turned from the Archduke with an air rather of dignity than scorn, leaving the Austrian apparently as much relieved by the removal of his eye, as is a sullen and truant schoolboy, when the glance of his severe pedagogue is withdrawn. Noble Earl of Champagne, Princely Marquess of Montserrat, valiant grandmaster of the Templars, I am here a penitent in the confessional. Do any of you bring a charge or claim amends from me? i know not on what we could ground any said the smooth tongue conrad unless it were that the king of england carries off from his poor brothers of the war or the fame which they might have hoped to gain in the expedition my charge if i am called on to make one said the master of the templars is graver and deeper than that of the marquess of montserrat it may be thought ill to beseem a military monk such as i to raise his voice where as so many noble princes remain silent,

Starting point is 09:22:27 but it concerns our whole host, and not least this noble King of England, that he should hear from someone to his face, those charges which there are now to bring against him in his absence. We lord and honour the courage and high achievements of the King of England, but we feel aggrieved that he should, on all occasions, seize and maintain a precedence and superiority over us, which it becomes not independent princes

Starting point is 09:22:54 to submit to. Much who might yield to our free will to his bravery, his zeal, his wealth and his power. But he who snatches all as matter of right, and leaves nothing to grant out of courtesy and favour, degrades us from allies into retainers and vassals, and sullies in the eyes of our soldiers and subjects the lustre of our authority, which is no longer independently exercised. Since the royal Richard has asked the truth from us, he must need to be able to be able to be. be surprised, not angry when he hears one, to whom worldly pomp is prohibited, and secular authority is nothing, saving so far as it advances the prosperity of God's temple, and the

Starting point is 09:23:36 prostration of the lion which goeth about seeking whom he may devour. When he hears, as I say, such a one as I tell in the truth in reply to his question, which truth, even while I speak it, is, I know, confirmed by the heart of everyone who hears me, however respect may stye their voices richard coloured very highly why the grandmaster was making this direct and darn varnished attack upon his conduct and the murmur of assent which followed it showed plainly that almost all who were present acquiesced in the justice of the accusion incensed and at the same time mortified he yet foresaw that to give way to this headlong resentment would be to give the cold and weary accuser the advantage over him which it was the tempest principal object to obtain he therefore with a strong effort remained silent till he had repeated a pater noister being the course which his confessor had enjoined him to pursue when anger was likely to obtain dominion over him the king then spoke with composure though not without an embittered tone especially at the outset and is it even so and are our brethren at such pains to note the infirmities of our natural temper and the rough precipitance of our zeal which may sometimes averted us to issue commands when there was little time to hold counsel i could not have thought that offences casual and unpremeditated like mine could find such deep root in the hearts of my allies in this most holy cause

Starting point is 09:25:09 that for my sake they should withdraw their hands from the plough when the furrow was near the end for my sake turn aside from the direct path to jerusalem which their swords have opened i vainly thought that my small services might have overweighed my rash errors that if it were remembered that i pressed to the van in the assault it would not be forgotten that i was ever the last in the retreat that if i elevated my banner upon conquered fields of battle it was all the advantage that i sought while others were dividing the spoil i may have called the conquered city by my name but it was to others that i yielded the dominion if i have been headstrong and urging bold counsels i have not methinks spared my own blood or my peoples in carrying them into a bold execution or if i have in the hurry of march or battle assumed a command over the soldiers of others such have been ever treated as my own when my wealth purchased the provisions and medicines which their own sovereigns could not procure but it shames me to remind you of what all but myself seems to have forgotten it has rather look forward to our future measures "'And believe me, brethren,' he continued, "'his face kindling with eagerness. "'You shall not find the pride, or the wrath,

Starting point is 09:26:27 "'or the ambition of Richard, "'a stumbling block of offence in the path "'to which religion and glory summon you, "'as with the trumpet of an archangel. "'Oh, no, no, never would I survive the thought "'that my frailties and infirmities "'had been the means to sever this godly fellowship "'of assembled princes.

Starting point is 09:26:44 "'I would cut off my left hand with my right. "'Could my doing so attentive, my sincerity i will yield up voluntarily all right to command in the host even mine own lead subjects they shall be led by such sovereigns as you may nominate and their king ever but too apt to exchange the leader's baton for the adventurer's lance we'll serve under the banner of buzant among the templars ay or under that of austria if austria will name a brave man to lead his forces or if ye are yourselves a weary of this war and fill your arm and chafe your tender bodies. Leave but with Richard some ten or fifteen thousand of your soldiers to work out the accomplishment of your vow. And when Zion is one,

Starting point is 09:27:30 he exclaimed, waving his hand aloft, as if displaying the standard of the cross over Jerusalem. When Zion is one, we will write upon her gates, not to the name of Richard Plantagant, but to those generous princes who entrusted him with the means of conquest. The rough eloquence and determined expression of the military monarch At once roused the drooping spirits of the crusaders, reanimated their devotion,

Starting point is 09:27:56 and, fixing their attention on the principal object of the expedition, made most of them who were present blush for having been moved by such petty subjects of complaint as had before engrossed them. I caught fire from I. Voice lent courage to voice. They resumed, as with one accord, the war-cry with which the sermon of peter the hermit was echoed back and shouted aloud lead us on gallant lion's heart none so worthy to lead where the brave men follow lead us on to jerusalem to jerusalem it is the will of god it is the will of god bless is he who shall lend an arm to its fulfilment the shout so suddenly and generally raised was heard beyond the ring of sentinels who guarded the pavilion of council and spread among the soldiers who guarded the pavilion of council and spread among the soldiers of the host who inactive and dispirited by disease and climate had begun like their leaders to droop in resolution

Starting point is 09:28:54 but the reappearance of richard in renewed vigor and the well-known shout which echoed from the assembly of the princes at once rekindled their enthusiasm and thousands and tens of thousands answered with the same shout of zion zion war war instant battle with the infidels it is the will of god it is the will of God. The acclamations from without increased in their turn the enthusiasm which prevailed within the pavilion. Those who did not actually catch the flame were afraid, at least for the time, to seem colder than others. There was no more speech except of a proud advance towards Jerusalem upon the expiry of the truce, and the measures to be taken in the meantime for supplying and recruiting the army. The council broke up. all apparently filled with the same enthusiastic purpose which however soon faded in the bosom of most and never had an existence in that of others of the latter classes were the marquis conrad and the grandmaster of the templars

Starting point is 09:30:01 who retired together to their quarters ill at ease and malcontent with the events of the day i ever told it to v so the latter with the cold sardonic expression peculiar to him that richard would burst through the flimsy wiles you have spread for him as would a lion through a spider's web thou seest he as but to speak and his breath agitates these fickle fools as easily as the whirlwind catches scattered straws and sweeps them together or disperses them at its pleasure when the blast has passed away said conrad the straws which may dance to its pipe will settle to earth again but knowest thou not besides said the templar that it seems if this new purpose of conquest shall be abandoned and pass away and each mighty prince shall again be left to such guidance as his own scanty brain can supply richard may yet probably become king of jerusalem by compact and establish those terms of treaty with the sultan which thou thyself thought him so likely to spurn at now by my hound and tomogant for christian oaths are art of fashion said conrad sayest thou the proud king of england would unite his blood with a heathen sultan my policy threw in that ingredient to make the whole treaty an abomination to him as bad for us had he become our master by an agreement as by victory thy policy have ill-calculated richard's digestion answer the templar i know his mind by a whisper from the archbishop and then thy master stroke respecting yonder banner it has passed off with no more respect than two cubits of embroidered silk merited

Starting point is 09:31:53 marcus conrad thy witch begins to halt i will trust thy fine-spun measures no longer but will try my own knowest thou not the people whom the saracens call charragites surely answered the marquess they are desperate and besotted enthusiasts who devote their lives to the advancement of religion somewhat like templars only they are never known to pause in the race of their calling just not answered the scowling monk know that one of these men has set down in his bloody vow the name of the island emperor yonder to be hewn down as the chief enemy of the moslem faith "'Most judicious pining him,' said Conrad. "'May Mohammed sent him his paradise for a reward?' "'He was taken in the camp by one of our squires, "'and in private examination frankly about his fixed and determined purpose to me,' "'said the Grandmaster.

Starting point is 09:32:55 "'Now the heavens pardon them who prevented the purpose of this most judicious charigite.' "'Ansed Comrade.' "'He is my prisoner,' added the Templar. and secluded from speech with others as thou mayest suppose but prisons have been broken chains left unlocked and captives have escaped answered the marquess it is an ancient saying no sure dungeon but the grave when loose he resumes his quest continued the military priest for it is the nature of this sort of bloodhound never to quit the suit of the prey he is once scented say no more of it said the marquess i see thy policy it is dreadful but the emergency is imminent i only told thee of it said the templar that thou mayst keep thyself on thy guard for the uproar will be dreadful and there is no knowing on whom the english may vent their rage ay and there is another risk my page knows the counsels of this shahragut he continued and moreover he is a peevish self-willed fool whom i would i were rid of as he thwarts me were presuming to see with his own eyes not mine but our holy order gives me a power to put a remedy to such inconvenience

Starting point is 09:34:22 or stay the saracen may find a good dagger in his cell and i warrant you he uses it as he breaks forth which will be of a surety so soon as the page enters with his food it will give the affair a colour said conrad and yet yet and but said the templar are words for fools wise men neither hesitate nor retract they resolve and they execute end of chapter nineteen chapter twenty of the talisman this is the librivox recording although the vox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit livervox Visit Liprovogs.org. Recording by a Lizzie Driver. The talisman by Sir Walter Scott. Chapter 20 When Beauty leads the lion in her toils,

Starting point is 09:35:29 Such are her charms he dare not raise his mane. Far less expand the terror of his fangs. So great Alcades made his club a distaff and spun to please fair and fail. Anonymous. richard the unsuspicious object of the dark treachery detailed in the closing part of the last chapter having effected for the present at least the triumphant union of the crusading princes in a resolution to prosecute the war with vigor had it next at heart to establish tranquillity in his own family and now that he could judge more temperately to inquire distinctly into the circumstances leading to the loss of his banner and the nature and the extent of the connection between his own his kinswoman Edith and the banished adventurer from Scotland.

Starting point is 09:36:19 Accordingly, the Queen and her household was startled with a visit from Sir Thomas De Vorks, requesting the present attendance of the Lady Callister of Montfacon, the Queen's principal Boerwoman, upon King Richard. What am I to say, madam? said the trembling attendant to the Queen. He will slay us all. Nay, fear not, madam, said DeVorx. his majesty hath spared the life of the scottish knight who was the chief offender and bestowed him upon the morris physician he will not be severe upon a lady though faulty devise some cunning tell wench said berengaria my husband hath too little time to make inquiry into the truth tell the tell as it really happened said edith lest i tell it for thee

Starting point is 09:37:12 with humble permission of her majesty said de vorks i would say lady edith advises well for although king richard is pleased to believe what it pleases your grace to tell him yet i doubt his having the same deference for the lady calista and in this especial matter the lord of gildesland is right said the lady callista much agitated at the thoughts of the investigation which was to take place and besides if i had presence of mind enough to forge a plausible story beshrew me if i think i should have the courage to tell it in this candid humour the lady calista was conducted by devorques to the king a maid as she had proposed a full confession of the decoy by which the unfortunate knight of the leopard had been induced to desert his post exculpulating the lady edith who she was aware would not fail to expulpate her and laying the full burden on the queen her mistress whose share in the frolic she well knew would appear the most venial in the eyes of cordililion in truth richard was a fond almost uxious husband the first burst of his wrath had long since passed away and he was not disposed severely to censure what could not now be amended the wily lady calista accustomed from her earliest childhood to fathom the intrigues of a court and watched the indications of a sovereign's will, hastened back to the queen with the speed of a lapwing,

Starting point is 09:38:50 charged with the king's commands that she should expect a speedy visit from him, to which the Bower lady added a commentary founded on her own observation, tending to show that Richard meant just to preserve so much severity as might bring his royal consort to repent of a frolic, and then to extend to her and all concerned his gracious pardon. "'Sits the wind in that corner wench?' "'said the queen, much relieved by this intelligence. "'Believe me that, great commander as he is,

Starting point is 09:39:22 "'Richard will find it hard to circumvent us in this matter, "'and that, as the Pyrenean shepherds I want to say in my native Navarre, "'many a one comes from wool and goes back shorn. "'Having possessed herself of all the information which Callista could communicate, "'the royal Beringeria arrayed herself in a most becoming dress, and awaited with confidence the arrival of the heroic Richard. He arrived, and found himself in the situation of a prince entering an offending province, in the confidence that his business will only be to inflict, rebuke, and receive submission.

Starting point is 09:40:01 When he unexpectedly finds it in a state of complete defiance and insurrection, Perengaria well knew the power of her charms and the extent of Richard's affection, and felt assured that she could make her own terms good, now that the first tremendous explosion of his anger had expended itself without mischief. Far from listening to the king's intended rebuke, as what the levity of her conduct had justly deserved, she extenuated, nay, defended as a harmless frolic,

Starting point is 09:40:31 that which she was accused of. She denied, indeed, with many a pretty form of negotiation, that she had directed Nectobarnus absolutely to entice the knight farther than the brink of the mount on which he kept watch. And indeed, this was so far true, that she had not designed Sir Kenneth to be introduced into her tent. And then, eloquent in urging her own defence, the queen was far more so impressing upon Richard to the charge of unkindness. In refusing her so poor a boon is the life of an unfortunate knight, who by her thoughtless prank had been brought within the danger of martial law she wept and sobbed while she enlarged on her husband's obdurancy on this score as a rigor which had threatened to make her unhappy for life whenever she should reflect that she had given unthinkingly the remote cause for such a tragedy the vision of this slaughtered victim would have haunted her dreams nay for all she knew since such things often happened

Starting point is 09:41:38 his actual spectre might have stood by her waking couch to all this misery of the mind was she exposed by the severity of one who while he pretended to dote upon her slightest glance would not forego one act of poor revenge though the issue was to render her miserable all this flow of female eloquence was accompanied with the usual arguments of tears and sighs and uttered with such tone and action as seemed to show that the queen's resentment arose neither from pride nor sullenness but from feelings hurt at finding her consequence with her husband less than she had expected to possess the good king richard was considerably embarrassed he tried in vain with one whose very jealousy of his affection rendered her incapable of listening to argument nor could he bring himself to use the restraint of lawful authority to a creature so beautiful in the midst of her unreasonable displeasure he was therefore reduced to the defensive endeavored gently to chide her suspicions and soothe her displeasure and record to her mind that she need not look back upon the past with recollections either of remorse or supernatural fear since said kenneth was alive and well and had been bestowed by him upon the great arabian physician who doubtless of all men knew best how to keep him living but this seemed the unkindest cut of all and the queen's cut of all and the queen's sorrow was renewed at the idea of a saracen a mediciner obtaining a boon for which with bare head and on bended knee she had petitioned her husband in vain at this new charge richard's patients began rather to give way and he said in a serious tone of voice beringaria the physician saved my life if it is of value in your eyes you will not grudge him a higher recompense and the only one i could prevail on him to accept the queen was satisfied she had urged her to her coquesh displeasure to the verge of safety my richard she said why brought you not that sage to me that england's queen might show how she esteemed him who could save from extinction the lamp of chivalry the glory of england and the light of poor berengaria's life and hope

Starting point is 09:43:53 in a word the matrimonial dispute was ended but that some penalty might be paid to justice both king and queen accorded in lane the whole blame on the age at Nectobarnus, who, the queen being by this time well weary of the poor dwarf's humour, who, with his royal consort Guinevar, sentenced to be banished from the court, and the unlucky dwarf only escaped a supplementary whipping, from the queen's assurances that he had already sustained personal chastisement. It was agreed further that, as an envoy was shortly to be dispatched to Saladin, acquainting him with the resolution of the council, to resume hostilities as soon as the truth was ended and as richard proposed to send a valuable present to the sultan in acknowledgment of the high benefit he had derived from the services of el the two unhappy creatures should be added to its curiosities which from their extremely grotesque appearance and the shattered state of their intellect were gifts that might well pass between sovereign and sovereign richard had that day yet another female encounter to sustain

Starting point is 09:45:05 but he advanced to it with comparative indifference. For Edith, though beautiful and highly esteemed by her royal relative, nay, although she had from his unjust suspicions actually sustained the injury, of which Berengaria only affected to complain, still was neither Richard's wife nor mistress, and he feared her reproaches less, although founded in reason, than those of the queen, though unjust and fantastical.

Starting point is 09:45:35 Having requested to speak with her approach, part, he was ushered into her apartment, adjoining that of the queen, whose two female coptish slaves remained on their knees in the most remote corner during the interval. A thin black veil extended its ample folds over the tall and graceful form of the high-born maiden, and she wore not upon her person any female ornament of what kind soever. She arose and made a low reverence when Richard entered, resumed. her seat at his command, and, when he sat down beside her, waited, without uttering a syllable, until he should communicate his pleasure. Richard, whose custom it was to be familiar with Edith,

Starting point is 09:46:22 as their relationship authorised, felt this reception chilling, and opened the conversation with some embarrassment. Our fair cousin, he said at length, is angry with us, and we owe that strong circumstances have induced us, without cause, to suspect her of alien contact to what we have ever known in her course of life. But while we walk in this misty valley of humanity, men will mistake shadows for substances.

Starting point is 09:46:52 Can my fair cousin not forgive her somewhat vehement kinsman, Richard? Who can refuse forgiveness to Richard? answered Edith, provided Richard can obtain pardon of the king come my kingswoman replied cordillian this is all too solemn by our lady such a melancholy countenance and this ample sable veil might make men think thou were to new-made widow or had lost a betrothed lover at least cheer up thou hast heard doubtless that there is no real cause for woe why then keep up the form of mourning for the departed honour of plantagant for the glory which hath left my father's house richard frowned departed honour glory which has left our house he repeated angrily but my cousin edith is privileged i have judged i have judged her too harshly she has therefore a right to deem of me too harshly but tell me at least in what i have faulted plantagant said edith should have either pardoned an offence or punished it it misbecomes him to assign free men christians and brave knights to the fetters of the infidels

Starting point is 09:48:05 it becomes him not to compromise embatter or to grant life under the forfeiture of liberty to have doomed the unfortunate to death might have been severity but had a show of justice to condemn him to slavery and exile was barefaced tyranny i see my fair cousin said richard you're of those pretty ones who think an absent lover as bad as none or as a dead one be patient half a score of light horsemen may yet follow and redeem the error if thy gallant having keeping any secret which might render his death more convenient than his banishment peace with thy scurril jests answered edith colouring deeply think rather that for the indulgence of thy mood thou hast lotped from this great enterprise one goodly limb deprived the cross of one of its most brave supporters and placed a servant of the true god in the hands of the heathen hast given too to minds as suspicious as thou had shown thine own in this matter some right to say that richard cordillian banished the bravest soldier in his camp lest his name in battle might match his own i i exclaimed richard now indeed greatly moved am i one to be jealous of renown i would he were here to profess such an equality i would rave my rank and my crown and meet him manlike in the lists that it might appear whether rich of plantagenet had room to fear or to envy the prowess of mortal man come edith thou think as not as thou sayest let not anger or grief for the absence of thy lover make thee unjust to thy kinsman who notwithstanding all thy tetchiness values thy good report as high as that of any one living the absence of my lover said the lady edith but yes he may well be turned my lover who have paid so dear for the title unworthy as i might be of such homage i was to him like a light leading him forward in the noble path of chivalry but that i forgot my rank all that he presumed beyond his is false or a king to speak it

Starting point is 09:50:16 my fair cousin said richard do not put words in my mouth which i have not spoken i said not you had grace this man beyond the favour which a good knight may earn even from a princess whatever be his native condition but by our lady i know something of this love-gear it begins with mute respect and distant reverence but when opportunities occur familiarity increases and so but its skills not talking with one who thinks herself wiser than all the world my kinsman's counsels i willingly listen to when they are such said edith as convey no insult to my rank and character kings my fair cousin do not counsel but rather command said richard suldans do indeed command said edith but it is because they have slaves to govern come you might learn to lay aside this scornous sultanry when you hold so high of a scot said the king i hold saladin to be truer to his word than this william of scotland who must needs be called a lion forsooth he hath foully faulted towards me in failing to send the auxiliary aid he promised let me tell thee edith thou may as live to prefer a true turk to a false scot no never answered edith not should richard himself embrace the false religion which he crosses the seas to expel from palestine thou wilt have the last word said richard and thou shalt have it even think of me what thou wilt pretty edith i shall not forget that we are near and dear cousins so saying he took his leave in fair fashion but very little satisfied with the result of his visit it was the fourth day after sir kenneth had been dismissed from the camp and king richard sat in his pavilion enjoying an evening breeze from the west which with unusual coolness on her wings seemed breathed from merry england for the refreshment of her adventurous monarch

Starting point is 09:52:27 as was gradually recovering the full strength which was necessary to carry on his gigantic projects there was no one with him devourg's having been sent to ascalon to bring up reinforcements and supplies of military munition and most of his other attendants being occupied in different departments all preparing for the reopening of hostilities and for a grand preparatory review of the army of the crusaders which was to take place the next day the king sat listening to the busy hum among the soldiery the clatter from the forges where horseshoes were preparing and from the tents of the army marmurers who were repairing harnesses the voice of the soldiers too as they passed and repassed was loud and cheerful carrying with its very tone an assurance of high and excited courage and an omen of approaching victory while richard's ear drank in these sounds with delight and while he yielded himself to the visions of conquest and of glory which they suggested an equerry told him that a messenger from salatin waited without admit him instantly said the king and with due honor of jocelyn the english knight accordingly introduced a person apparently of no higher rank than a newbeian slave whose appearance was nevertheless highly interesting he was of superb stature and nobly formed and his commanding features although almost jet black showed nothing of negro descent he wore over his cold black locks a mill-white turban and over his shoulders a short mantle of the same colour open in front and at the sleeves under which appeared a doublet of dress leopard-skin reaching within a hand-breadth of the knee the rest of his muscular limbs both legs and arms were bare excepting that he had sandals on his feet and wore collar and bracelets of silver

Starting point is 09:54:28 a straight broadsword with a handle of boxwood and a sheath covered with snake-skin was suspended from his waist in his right hand he held a short javelin with a broad bright-still head of a span in length and in his left he led by a leash of twisted silk and gold a large and noble staghound the messenger prostrated himself at the same time partially uncovering his shoulders in sign of humiliation and having touched the earth with his forehead arose so far as to rest on one knee while he delivered to the king a silken napkin enclosing another of cloth of gold within which was a letter from saladin in the original arabic with a translation into norman english which may be modernized thus saladin king of kings to melahrich the lion of england whereas we are informed by their last message that thou hast chosen war rather than peace and our enmity rather than our friendship we account thee as one blinded in this matter and trust surely to convince thee of thine error by the help of our invincible forces of the thousand tribes when mohammed the prophet of God and Allah, the God of the prophet, shall judge the controversy betwixt us. In what remains, we make noble account of thee, and of the gifts which thou hast sent us, and of the two dwarves, singular in their deformity as Yusup, and mirthful as the loot of Isaac.

Starting point is 09:56:01 And in requital of these tokens from the treasure-house of thy bounty, behold, we have sent the anubian slave, named Zohak, of whom judged not by his complaint, and by his complaint, and collection according to the foolish ones of the earth in respect the dark-rinded fruit have the most exquisite flavor know that he is strong to execute the will of his master as rostin of zablastan also he is wise to give counsel when thou shalt learn to hold communication with him for the lord of speech hath been stricken with silence betwixt the ivory walls of his palace we commend him to thy care hoping the hour may not be distant when he may not be distant when he may be may render thee good service and herewith we bid thee farewell trust in that our most holy prophet may yet call thee to a sight of the truth failing which illumination our desire is for the speedy restoration of thy royal health that allah may dodge between thee and us in a plain field of battle and the missive was sanctioned by the signature and seal of the sultan richard surveyed the newbeen in silence as he stood before him his looks bent upon the ground his arms folded on his bosom with the appearance of a black marble statue of the most exquisite workmanship waiting life from the touch of a prometheus the king of england who as it was emphatically said of his successor henry the eighth laughed to look upon a man was well pleased with the few sinews and symmetry of him who he now surveyed and questioned him the lingar franca art thou a pagan

Starting point is 09:57:43 the slave shook his head and raising his finger to his brow crossed himself in the token of his christianity then resumed his posture of motionless humility a nubian christian doubtless said richard and mute littered of the organ of speech by these heathen dogs the mute again slowly shook his head in token of negative pointed with his forefinger to heaven and then laded upon his own lips i understand thee said richard thou dost suffer under the infliction of god not by the cruelty of man canst thou clean an armor and belt and buckle it in time of need the mute nodded and stepping towards the coat of mail which hung with the shield and helmet of the chivalrous monarch upon the pillar of the tent he handled it with such nicety of a dress as sufficiently to show that he fully understood the business of an armor-bearer thou art an apt and will doubtless be a useful knave thou shalt wait in my chamber and on my person said the king to show how much i value the gift of the royal sultan if thou hast no tongue it follows thou canst carry no tales neither provoke me to be sudden by an unfit's reply the nubian again prostrated himself till his brow touched the earth then stood erect at some paces distant as waiting for his new master's commands nay thou shalt commence thy offence presently said richard for i see a speck of rust darkening on that shield and when i shake it in the face of saladin it should be bright and unsullied as the sultan's honour and my own a horn was winded without and presently sir henry never landed with a packet of dispatches from england my lord he said as he delivered it from england our own england repeated richard in a tone of melancholy enthusiasm

Starting point is 09:59:48 alas they little think how hard their sovereign has been beset by sickness and sorrow faint friends and forward enemies then opening the dispatches he said hastily ha this comes from no peaceful land they too have their feuds neville begone i must pursue these tidings alone and at leisure never withdrew accordingly and richard was soon absorbed in the melancholy details which had been conveyed to him from england concerning the factions that were tearing to pieces his native dominions the disunion of his brothers john and geoffrey and the quarrels of both with the high justicery longchump bishop of eli the oppressions practised by the nobles upon the peasantry and the rebellion of the latter against their masters which had produced everywhere scenes of discord and in some instances the effusion of blood details of incidents mortifying to his pride and derogatory from his authority were intermingled with the earnest advice of his wisest and most attached counsellor that he should presently return to England, as his presence offered the only hope of saving the kingdom from all the horrors of civil discord, of which France and Scotland were likely to avail themselves.

Starting point is 10:01:09 Filled with the most painful anxiety, Richard read and again read the ill-omened letters. Compared to the intelligence with some of them contained with the same facts as differently stated in others, and soon became totally insensible to whatever was passing around him, although seated for the sake of coolness close to the entrance of his tent and having the curtains withdrawn so that he could see and be seen by the guards and others who were stationed without deeper in the shadow of the pavilion and busied with the task as new master had imposed said the nubian slave with his back rather turned towards the king he had finished adjusting and cleaning the huberg and brigadine and was now busily employed on the broad pervice or buckler of unusual size and covered with still plating,

Starting point is 10:02:01 which Richard often used in reconnoitering or actually storming fortified places, as a more effectual protection against missile weapons than the narrow triangular shield used on horseback. This pavis bore neither the Royal Lions of England, nor any other device, to attract the observation of the walls against which it was advance. The care, therefore, of the armour was addressed to causing its surface to shine as bright as crystal, in which he seemed to be peculiarly successful. Beyond the Nubian, and scarce visible from without, lay the large dog, which might be termed his brother-slave, and which, as if he felt awed by being transferred to a royal owner, was couched close to the side of the mute, with head and ears on the ground, and his limbs and tail drawn close around and under him. while the monarch and his new attendant were thus occupied another actor crept upon the scene and mingled among the group of english yeomen about a score of whom respecting the unusually pensive posture and close occupation of their sovereign were contrary to their want keeping a silent guard in front of his tent it was not however more vigilant than usual some were playing at games of hazard with small pebbles others spoke together in whispers of the approaching

Starting point is 10:03:25 day of battle, and several lay asleep, their bulky limbs folded in their green mantles. Amid these careless warders glided the puny form of a little old Turk, poorly dressed like a marabout or santon of the desert, a sort of enthusiasts, who sometimes ventured into the camp of the Crusaders, though treated always with consummly and often with violence. Indeed, the luxury and profligate indulgence of the Christian leaders had occasioned a motley concourse in their tents of musicians, courtesans, Jewish merchants, cops, Turks, and all the varied refuse of the Eastern nations. So that the captain and turban, though to drive both from the Holy Land as the professed object of the expedition, were, nevertheless, neither on uncommon nor an alarming sight in the camp of the Crusaders. when however the little insignificant figure we have described to approach so nigh as to receive some interruption from the warders he dashed his dusky green turban from his head showed that his beard and eyebrows were shaved like those of a professed buffoon and the expression of his fantastic and rhythm features as well as of his little black eyes which glittered like jet were that of a crazed imagination

Starting point is 10:04:50 dance marabout cried the soldiers acquainted with the manners of these wandering enthusiasts dance or we will scourgely with our bow-strings till thou spin has never topped it under schoolboy's lash till thou spin has never topped it under schoolboy's lash thus shouted the reckless warders as much delighted at having a subject to tease as a child when he catches a butterfly or a schoolboy upon discovering a bird's nest the marabout as if happy to do their behests bounded from the earth and spun his giddy round before them with singular agility which when contrasted with his slight and wasted figure and diminutive appearance made him resemble a withered leaf twirled round and round at the pleasure of winter's breeze his single lock of hair streamed upwards from his bald and shaven head as if some genie upheld him by it and indeed it seemed as if supernatural art were necessary to the execution of the wild whirling dance in which scarce the tiptoe of the performer was seen to touch the ground amid the vagaries of his performance he flew here and there from one spot to another still approaching however though almost imperceptibly to the entrance of the royal tent so that when its length he sunk exhausted on the ground after two or three bounds still higher than those which he had yet exerted he was not above thirty yards from the king's person give him water said one yeomen they always crave a drink after their merry go round ah water saith thou long allan exclaimed another archer with a most scornful emphasis on the despised element how wouldst thou like a beverage thyself after such a morris dancing the devil a water-drop he gets here said a third we will teach the light for didold infidel to be a good christian and drink wine of cypress

Starting point is 10:06:51 ay ay said a fourth and in case he be restive fit thou dick hunter's horn that he drenches his mare withal a circle was instantly formed around the prostrate and exhausted dervish and while one tall yeoman raised his feeble form from the ground another presented to him a huge flagon of wine incapable of speech the old man shook his head and waved away from him with his hand the liquor forbidden by the prophet but his tormentors were not thus to be appeased the horn the horn exclaimed one little difference between a turk and a turkish horse and you will use him conforming by st george you will choke him said long allan and besides it is a sin to throw away upon a heathen dog as much wine as would serve a good christian for a treble nightcap thou knowest not the nature of these turks and pagans long allan replied henry woodstool i tell thee man that this flagon of soapestown will set his brains a spin spinning, just in the opposite direction that they went whirling and the dancing. And so bring him, as it were, to himself again. Choke? He will no more choke on it than Ben's black bitch on the pound of butter. And for grudging it, said Tomerlin Blacklees,

Starting point is 10:08:08 why should as thou grudge the poor pine-in-devil a drop of drink of earth? Since thou knowest he is not to have a drop to call the tip of his tongue through a long eternity? That were hard laws. Look ye, said Long Allen. only for being a turk as his father was before him had he been christian turned heathen i grant you the hottest corner had been good wind a quarter's for him hold thy peace long allan said henry woodstall i tell thee that the tongue of thine is not the shortest limb about thee and i pro se that it will bring thee into disgrace with father francis as one about the black-eyed syrian wench but here comes the horn be active a bit man wilt thou and just force open his teeth with the heft of thy dudd and dagger. Hold, hold. He is comfortable, said Tomolin. See, see, he signs for the goblet. Give him room, boys.

Starting point is 10:09:05 Opsies, quoth the Dutchman, down it goes like lambswell. Nay, they are true toppers when they begin, yet Turk never costs in his cup, or stints in his liquoring. In fact, the dervish, or whatever it was, drank, or at least seemed to drink, the large flagon to the very bottom at a single pull. And when he took it from his lips after the whole contents were exhausted, only uttered, with a deep sigh,

Starting point is 10:09:31 the words, Allah Karim, or God is merciful. There was a laugh among the yeoman who witnessed this pottled deep potation, so obstrap areas as to rouse and disturb the king. Who, raising his finger, said angrily,

Starting point is 10:09:47 how, knaves, no respect, no observance? all were at once hushed into silence well acquainted with the temper of richard which at some times admitted of much military familiarity and at others extracted the most precise respect although the latent humour was of much more rare occurrence hastening to a more reverent distance from the royal person they attempted to drag along with them the marabout who exhausted apparently by previous fatigue or overpowered by the potent draught he had just swallowed resisted by being moved from the spot both with struggles and groans leave him still your fools whispered long allan to his mates my st christopher you'll make our dick and go beside himself and we shall have his dagger presently fly at our costards leave him alone in less than a minute he will sleep like a door-mouse at the same moment the monarch darted another impatient glance to the spot and all retreated in haste leaving the dervish on the ground unable as it seemed to stir a single limb or joint of his body in a moment afterward all was as still and quiet as it had been before the intrusion end of chapter twenty chapter twenty one of the talisman This is the Libravox recording, or Libravox recordings are in the public domain.

Starting point is 10:11:20 For more information or to volunteer, please visit Libravox.org. Recording by Lizzie Driver The Talisman by Sir Walter Scott Chapter 21 And withered murder alarmed by his sentinel, the wolf, Whose howl his watch, thus with his stealthy pace, With Tarquin's ravishing strides, Towards his design, moves like a ghost.

Starting point is 10:11:45 mcbeth for the space of a quarter of an hour or longer after the incident related all remained perfectly quiet in the front of the royal habitation the king red amused in the entrance of his pavilion behind and with his back turned to the same entrance the nubian slave still burnished the ample pavis in front of all at a hundred paces distant the yeomen of the guard stood sat or lay extended on the grass, attended to their own sports, but pursuing them in silence. While, on the esplanade betwixt them and the front of the tent, lay, scarcely to be distinguished from a bundle of rags, the senseless form of the marabout. But the Nubian had the advantage of a mirror from the brilliant reflection which the surface of the highly polished shield now afforded, by means of which he beheld, to his alarm and surprise, that the marabout raised his head gently, from the ground, so as to survey all around him, moving with a well-adjusted precaution which seemed

Starting point is 10:12:55 entirely inconsistent with a state of ebriety. He crouched his head instantly, as if satisfied he was unobserved, and began, with the slightest possible appearance of voluntary effort, to drag himself, as if by chance, ever nearer and nearer to the king. But stopping and remaining fixed at intervals, like the spider. which, moving towards her object, collapses into apparent lifelessness when she thinks she is the subject of observation. This species of movement appeared suspicious to the Ethiopian,

Starting point is 10:13:32 who, on his part, prepared himself as quietly as possible, to interfere the instant that interference should seem to be necessary. The marabout, meanwhile, glided on gradually and imperceptibly, serpent-like, or rather snail-like, till he was about ten yards distant from Richard's person. When, starting on his feet, he sprung forward with the bound of a tiger, stood at the king's back in less than an instant,

Starting point is 10:14:02 and branded Delof the Carnigar or Poignard, which he had hidden in his sleeve. Not the presence of his whole army could have saved the heroic monarch, but the motions of the Nubian had been as well calculated as those of the enthusiast, and ere the latter could strike, the former court is uplifted arm. turning his fanatical wrath upon what thus unexpectedly interposed betwixt him and his object the sharegite for such was a seeming marabout dealt the new bean a blow with the dagger which however only graced his arm while the far superior strength of the ethiopian easily dashed him to the ground aware of what had passed richard had now arisen and with little more of surprise anger or interest of any kind in his countenance,

Starting point is 10:14:54 then an ordinary man would show in bruising off and crushing an intrusive wasp, caught up the stool on which he had been sitting, and exclaiming only, hard dog! Dash almost to pieces the skull of the assassin, who uttered twice, once in a loud, and once in a broken tone,

Starting point is 10:15:14 the words, Allah Akbar, God is victorious, and expired at the king's feet. ye are careful warders said richard to his archers in a tone of scornful reproach as aroused by the bustle of what had passed in terror and tumult as they now rushed into his tent watchful sentinels ye are to leave me to do such hangman's work with my own hand be silent all of you and cease your senseless clamour saw ye never a dead turk before here cast that carrion out of the camp strike the head from the trunk and stick it on a lance taking care to turn the face to mecca let he may the easier tell the foul impostor on whose inspiration he came hither how he has sped on his errand for thee my swart and silent friend he added turned to the Ethiopian. But how's this?

Starting point is 10:16:10 Thou art wounded, and with a poisoned weapon, I'll warrant me, for by force of stabs so weak an animal as that could scarce hope to do more than raise the lion's hide. Suck the poison from his wound one of you. The venom is harmless on the lips, though fatal when it mingles with the blood. The yeoman looked on each other confusedly,

Starting point is 10:16:32 and with hesitation. The apprehension of so strange a danger, prevailing with those who feared no other. How now, Syras, continued the king, are you dainty-lipped, or do you fear death that you dally thus? Not the death of a man, said Long Allen, to whom the king looked as he spoke. But methinks they were not to die like a poisoned rat

Starting point is 10:16:57 for the sake of a black chattel there, that is brought and sold in a market, like a maltimus ox. His grace speaks to men of succumbus, in poison, muttered another yeoman, as if he said, Go to swallow gooseberry. Nay, said Richard, I never bade man do that which I would not do myself. And, without further ceremony, and in spite of the general expostulations of those around, and the respectful opposition of the Nubian himself, the King of England applied his lips to

Starting point is 10:17:32 the wound of the black slave, treating with ridicule all the remonstrances and overpowering all resistance. He had no sooner intimated his singular occupation than the newbie and, casting a scarf over his arm, intimated by gestures, as firm in purpose as they were respectful in manner, his determination not to permit the monarch to renew so degrading an employment. Long Allen also interposed, saying that, if it were necessary to prevent the king engaging again in a treatment of this kind his own lips tongue and teeth were at the surface of the negro as he called the european and that he would eat him up bodily rather than king richard's mouth should again approach him neville who entered with other officers added his remonstrances nay nay make not a needless halloo about a heart that the hounds have lost or a danger when it is over said the king the wound will be a trifle for the blood is scarce drawn an angry cat had dealt a deeper scratch and for me i have but to take a dacom of overturn by way of precaution though it is needless

Starting point is 10:18:56 thus spoke richard a little ashamed perhaps of his own condescension though sanctioned both by humanity and gratitude but when neville continued to make remonstrances on the peril to his royal person the king imposed silence on him peace i prithee make no more of it i did it but to show these ignorant prejudiced nays how they might help each other when these cowardly catifs come against us with sabucanes and poignant shafts but he added take thee this nubian to thy quarters neville i have changed my mind touching him let him be well cared for but talk in thine ear see that he escapes thee not there is more in him than seems. Let him have all liberty, so that he leave not to the camp. And you, your beef devouring, wine-swilling Englishmastis, get ye to your guard again, and be sure you keep it more warily. Think not you are now in your own land of fair play.

Starting point is 10:20:01 When men speak before they strike and shake hands ere they cut throats. Danger in our land walks openly and with his blade drawn, and defies the foe whom he means to assault. But here he challenges you with a silk glove instead of a steel gauntlet, cuts your throat with the feather of a turtle dove, stabs you with the tongue of a priest's brooch, or throttles you with a lace of my lady's bodice. Go to.

Starting point is 10:20:26 Keep your eyes open and your mouths shut. Drink less and look sharper about you. Or I will place your huge stomachs on such short allowance as would pinch the stomach of a patient Scottish man. The yeomen, abashed and modified, withdrew to their post. and neville was beginning to remonstrant with his master upon the risk of passing over thus slightly their negligence upon their duty and the propriety of an example in the case so peculiarly aggravated as the permitting one so suspicious as the marabert to approach within daggers length of his person when richard interrupted him with speak not of it neville wouldst thou help me avenge a petty wrist to myself more severely than the loss of england's banner it has been stolen stolen by a thief or delivered up by a traitor and no blood has been shed for it my sable friend thou art an expounder of mysteries saith the illustrious sultan

Starting point is 10:21:24 now would i give thee thine own weight in gold if by raising one still blacker than thyself or by what other means thou wilt thou could show me the thief who did mine honour that wrong what sayest thou ha the mute seemed desirous to speak but uttered only that imperfect sound proper to his melancholy condition then folded his arms looked on the king with an eye of intelligence and nodded in answer to his question how said richard with joyful impatience wilt thou undertake to make discovery in this matter the nubian slave repeated the same motion but how shall we understand each other said the king. Canst thou write, good fellow? The slave again nodded in assent. Give him writing tools, said the king. They were ready in my father's tent than mine,

Starting point is 10:22:24 but they'd be somewhere about, if this scorching climate hath not dried up the ink. Why, this fellow is a jewel, a black diamond, Neville. So please you, my liege, said Neville, if I might speak my poor mind, it were ill-dealing in this wear. This man must be a wizard, and wizards deal with the enemy, who have most interest to sow tars among the wheat,

Starting point is 10:22:47 and bring dissension into our councils, and— "'Piece, Neville,' said Richard, "'Hello to your northern hound, when he is close on the haunch of the deer, and hope to recall him. But seek not to stop Plantagent when he hath hoped to retrieve his honour.' "'The slave, who, during this discussion, had been writing, in which art he seemed skilful, now arose, and, pressing what he had written to his brow, prostrated himself as usual, ere he delivered into the king's hand.

Starting point is 10:23:19 The scroll was in French, although their intercourse had hitherto been conducted by Richard in the lingua Franca. To Richard, the conquering and invincible king of England. This from the humblest of his slaves. Mysteries are the sealed casks of heaven. but wisdom may devise means to open the lock were your slaves stationed where the leaders of the christian hosts were made to pass before him in order doubt nothing that if he who did the injury were of my king's complaints shall be among the number he may be made manifest in his iniquity though it be hidden under seven veils now by st george said king richard thou hast spoken most opportunely neville thou knowest that when we muster our troops to-morrow the princes have agreed that to expiate the affront offered to england in the theft of a banner the leaders should pass our new standard as it floats on st george's mount and salute it with formal regard believe me the secret traitor will not dare to absent himself from an expurgation so solemn lest his very absent should be a matter of suspicion

Starting point is 10:24:30 there we will place our sable man of counsel and if his art can detect the villain leave me to deal with him my liege said neville with the frankness of an english baron beware what work you begin here is the concord of our holy league unexpectedly renewed will you upon such suspicion as a negro slave can install tear open wounds so lately closed or will you use the solemn procession adopted for the reparation of your own honor and the establishment of unanimity amongst the discording princes as a means of again finding out new cause of offence or reviving ancient quarrels it was scarce too strong to say this were a breach of the declaration or grace made to the assembled council of the crusade neville said the king sternly interrupting him thy zeal makes thee presumptuous and unmannerly never did i promise to abstain from taking whatever means were most promising to discover the infamous author of the attack on my honour. Ere had done so, I would have renounced my kingdom, my life. All my declarations were under this necessary and absolute qualification. Only, if Austria had stepped forth and owned the injury like a man,

Starting point is 10:25:46 I proffered, for the sake of Christendom, to have forgiven him. But, continued the Baron anxiously, what hope that this juggling slave of Saladin were not poulter with your grace? "'Piece, Neville,' said the king, "'thou think as thyself mighty wise, and art but a fool. "'Mind thou my charge, touching this fellow. "'There is more in him than thy Westmoreland wit can fathom. "'And thou, smart and silent,

Starting point is 10:26:17 "'prepared to perform the feat thou hast promised, "'and, by the word of a king, "'thou shalt choose thine own recompense. "'Lo,' he writes again. "'The mute accordingly wrote, "'and delivered to the king, with the same form as before another slip of paper containing these words the will of the king is the law to his slave nor doth it become him to ask gurdon for discharge of his divaure gurdon and devois said the king interrupting himself as he read and speaking to neville in the english tongue with some emphasis on the words these eastern people will profit by the crusaders they are acquiring the language of chivalry

Starting point is 10:27:01 and see neville how discomposed that fellow looks wait not for his color he would blush i should not think it strange if he understood what i say they are perilous linguists the poor slave cannot endure your grace's eye said neville it is nothing more well but continued the king striking the paper with his finger as he proceeded this bold scroll proceeds to say that our trusty mute is charged with a message from Saladin to the Lady Edith Plantagint, and craves means and opportunity to deliver it. What thinkest thou of a request so modest, huh, Neville? I cannot say, said Neville, how such freedom may relish with your grace,

Starting point is 10:27:47 but the lease of the messenger's neck would be a short one, who should carry such a request to the sultan on the part of your majesty. Nay, I thank Heaven that I covered none of his sunburned beauties, said Richard, punishing this fellow for discharging his master's errand, and that when he has just saved my life, methinks it was something too summary. I'll tell thee, Neville, a secret. For although our Sable and mute minister be present, he cannot, thou knowest, tell it over again, even he should chance to understand us. I'll tell thee that, for this fortnight past, I have been under a strange

Starting point is 10:28:27 spell, and I would I were disenchanted. there has no sooner any one done me good service but lo you he cancels his interest in me by some deep injury and on the other hand he who hath deserved death at my hands for some treachery or some insult is sure to be the very person of all others who confers upon me some obligation that overbalances his demerits and renders respite of his sentence a debt due from my honour thus thou seest i am deprived of the best part of my royal function since i can neither punish men nor reward them until the influence of this disqualifying planing to be passed away i will say nothing concerning the request of this hour sable attendant save that it is an unusually bold one and that his best chance of finding grace in our eyes will be to endeavour to make the discovery which he proposes to achieve in our behalf meanwhile neville do thou look well to him and let him be honorably cared for and hark thee once more he said in a low whisper seek out yonder hermit of ingadi and bring him to me forthwith be saint or savage madman or sane let me see him privately neville retired from the royal tent signing to the newbeian to follow him and much surprised of what he had seen and heard and especially at the unusual demeanour of the king in general no task was so easier to discover richard's immediate course of sentiment and feeling though it might in some cases be difficult to calculate its duration for no weathercock obeyed the changing wind more readily than the king his gusts of passion but on the present occasion his manner seemed unusually constrained a mysterious

Starting point is 10:30:23 nor was it easy to guess whether displeasure or kindness predominated in his conduct towards his new dependent or in the looks with which from time to time he regarded him the ready service which the king had rendered to counteract the bad effects of the nubian's wound might seem to balance the obligation conferred on him by the slave when he intercepted the blow of the assassin but it seemed as a much longer account remained to be arranged by the between them, that the monarch was doubtful whether the settlement might leave him, upon the whole, debit or creditor, and that therefore, he assumed in the meantime a neutral demeanour, which might suit with either character. As for the Nubian, by whatever means he had acquired the art of writing the European languages, the king remained convinced that the English tongue at least was unknown to him. Since, having watched him closely during the last part of the the interview, he conceived it impossible for anyone understanding a conversation of which he

Starting point is 10:31:29 himself the subject, to have so completely avoided the appearance of taken an interest in it. End of Chapter 21. Chapter 22 of the Talisman This is the Libravox recording, all Libravox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Librevox.org. Recording by Lizzie Driver The Talisman by Sir Walter Scott Chapter 22 Who's there? Approach, tis kindly done,

Starting point is 10:32:07 My learned physician and a friend. Sir Eustace Gray Our narrative retrogrades to a period shortly previous to the incidents last mentioned. When, as the reader must remember, the unfortunate knight of the leopard, bestowed upon the Arabian physician by King Richard, rather as a slave than in any other capacity, was excelled from the camp of the Crusaders, in whose ranks he had so often and so brilliantly distinguished himself.

Starting point is 10:32:37 He followed his new master, for so he must now term the Hecim, to the Moorish tents which contained his retinue and his property, with the stupefied feelings of one who, fallen from the summit of a precipice, and escaping unexpectedly with life, is just able to drag himself from the fatal spot. but without the power of estimating the extent of the damage which he has sustained.

Starting point is 10:33:02 Arrived at the tent, he threw himself, without speech of any kind, upon a couch of dressed buffalo's hide, which was pointed out to him by his conductor, and, hiding his face betwixt his hands, groaned heavily, as if his heart were on the point of bursting. The physician heard him, as he was giving orders to his numerous domestics, to prepare for their departure the next morning before daybreak, and, moved with compassion, interrupted his occupation to sit down, crossed-legged by the side of his couch, and administered comfort according to the Oriental manner. "'My friend,' he said, "'be of good comfort, for what say of the poet, it is better that a man

Starting point is 10:33:49 should be the servant of a kind master than the slave of his own wild passions.' be of good courage because or as jusuf ben yagobi was sold to a king by his brethren even to pharaoh king of egypt thy king hath on the other hand bestowed thee on one who will be to thee as a brother sir kenneth made an effort to thank the hecim but his heart was too full and the indistinct sounds which accompanied his abortive attempts to reply induced the kind physician to detest from his premature endeavours at consolation he left his new domestic or guest in quiet to indulge his sorrows anne having commanded all the necessary preparations for their departure from the morning set down upon the carpet of the tent and indulged himself in a moderate repast. After he had thus refreshed himself, similar vians were offered to the Scottish knight. But though the slaves let him understand that the next day would be far advanced,

Starting point is 10:34:57 ere they would halt for the purpose of refreshment, Sir Kenneth could not overcome the disgust which he felt against swallowing any nourishment, and could be prevailed upon to taste nothing, save a draught of cold water. He was awake long after his Arab host had performed his usual devotions, and had taken himself to his repose nor had sleep visited him at the hour of midnight when a movement took place among the domestics which though attended with no speech and very nittle noise made him aware they were loading the camels and preparing for departure in the course of these preparations the last person who was disturbed excepting the physician himself was the knight of scotland whom about three in the morning a sort of major domo or master of the household acquainted that he must arise he did so without further answer and followed him into the moonlight where stood the camels most of which were already loaded and only one remained kneeling until its burden should be completed a little apart from the camels stood a number of horses ready bridled and saddled and the hakeem himself coming forth mounted on one of them with as much agility as the grave decorum of his character permitted

Starting point is 10:36:23 and directed another which he pointed out to be led towards sir kenneth an english officer was in attendance to escort them through the camp of the crusaders and to ensure their leaving it in safety and all was ready for their departure the pavilion which they had left was in the meanwhile struck with singular dispatch and the tent poles and coverings composed the burden of the last camel when the physician pronouncing solemnly the verse of the koran god be our guide and mohammed our protector in the desert as in the watered field the whole cavalcade was instantly in motion in traversing the camp they were challenged by the various sentinels who maintained guard there and such were to proceed in silence, or with a muted curse upon their prophet, as they passed the post as a more zealous crusader. At length the last barriers were left behind them, and the party formed themselves for the march with military precaution. Two or three horsemen advanced in front as a vanguard, one or two remained a bow-shot in the rear, and, wherever the ground admitted, others were detached to keep an outlook on the flanks. In this manner they proceeded onward, while Sir Kenneth, looking back on the moonlit camp, might now indeed seem banished, deprived at once of honour and of liberty,

Starting point is 10:37:53 from the gleaming banners under which he had hoped to gain additional renown, and the tented dwellings of chivalry, of Christianity, and of Edith Plantagant. The Hakeem, who rode by his side, observed in his usual tone of sensuous consolation, it is unwise to look back when the journey lie forward. And as he spoke, the horse of the knight made such a perilous stumble, as threatened to add a practical moral to the tale. The knight was compelled by this hint to give more attention to the management of his steed, which more than once required the assistance and support of the check bridle.

Starting point is 10:38:38 Although, in other respects, nothing could be more easy at once and active, than the ambling pace at which the animal, which was a mare, proceeded the conditions of that horse observed the sententious physician are like those of human fortune seeing that amidst his most swift and easy pace the rider must guard himself against a fool and that it is when prosperity is at the highest that our prudence should be awake and vigilant to prevent misfortune the over-hearted appetite loathes even the honey-comb and it is scarce a wonder that the night mortified and harassed with misfortunes in abasement became something impatient of hearing his misery made at every turn the ground of proverbs and apathems however just an opposite methinks he said rather peevishly i wanted no additional illustration of the instability of fortune thou would thank thee sir heirkeem for the choice of his deed for me would the jade but stumble so efficiently as at once to break my neck and her own my brother answered the arab sage with imperturbable gravity thou speakest as one of the foolish thou sayest in thy heart that the sage should have given you as his guest the younger and better horse and reserved the old one for himself. But know that the defects of the older steed may be compensated by the energies of the

Starting point is 10:40:12 young rider, whereas the violence of the young horse requires to be moderated by the cold temper of the older. So spoke the sage. But neither to this observation did Sir Kenneth return any answer which could lead to a continuance of their conversation. And the physician, wearied, perhaps, of administering comfort to one who would not be comforted, signed to one of his own. his retinue. Hassan, he said, herself nothing werewith to beguile the way. Hassan,

Starting point is 10:40:44 storyteller and poet by profession, spurred up upon this summons to exercise his calling. Lord of the Palace of Life, he said, addressing the physician, thou, before whom the angel Asriel spreadeth his wings for flight, thou, wiser than Solomon Bendiou, upon whose signet was inscribed the

Starting point is 10:41:05 real name which controls the spirits of the elements forbid it heaven that while thou'lt travellest upon the track of nevelance bearing healing and hope wherever thou comest thine own course should be saddened for the lack of the tale and of the song behold while thy servant is at thy side he will pour forth the treasures of his memory as the fountain sendeth his stream beside the pathway for the refreshment on him that walketh thereon after this exordium hasan uplifted his voice, and began a tale of love and magic, intermixed with feats of warlike achievement, and ornamented with abundant quotations from the Persian poets, with whose compositions the orator seemed familiar. The retinue of the physician, such accepted as were necessarily detained in attendance

Starting point is 10:41:59 on the camels, thronged up to the narrator, and pressed as close as deference for their master permitted to enjoy the delight which the inhabitants of the east have ever derived from this species of exhibition. At another time, notwithstanding his imperfect knowledge of the language, Sir Kenneth might have been interested in the recitation, which, through dictate by a more extravagant imagination, and expressed in more inflated in metaphorical language, bore yet a strong resemblance to the romances of chivalry, then so fashionable in Europe. But, as matters stood with him, he was scarcely even sensible that a man in the centre of the cavalcade recited and sung, in a low tone, for nearly two hours, modulating his voice to the various moods of passion introduced

Starting point is 10:42:52 into the tale, and receiving in return, now low murmurs of applause, now muttered expressions of wonder, now sighs and tears, and sometimes, what it was far more difficult to extract from such an audience, a tribute of smiles and even laughter. During the recitation, the attention of the exile, however abstracted by his own deep sorrow, was occasionally awakened by the low wail of a dog, secured in a wicker enclosure suspended on one of the camels, which, as an experienced woodsman, he had no hesitation in recognizing to be that of his own faithful hound. And, from the plaintive tone of the animal, he had no doubt that he was sensible of his master's vicinity,

Starting point is 10:43:41 and, in his way, invoking his assistance for liberty and rescue. Alas, poor Roswell, he said, thou callest for aid and sympathy upon one in strict of bondage than thou art thyself. I will not seem to hear thee or return thy affection, since it would serve but to load our parting with yet more bitterness thus passed the hours of night and the space of dim hazy dawn which forms the twilight of assyrian morning but when the very first line of the sun's disk began to rise above the level horizon and when the very first level ray shot glimmering in dew along the surface of the desert which the travellers had now attained the sonorous voice of el hakeem himself overpowered and cut shorted the narrative of the tale-teller, while he calls to resound along the sands the solemn summons,

Starting point is 10:44:37 which the Mazines sundered at mourning from the marinet of every mosque. To prayer, to prayer, to prayer, God is the one God, to prayer to prayer, Muhammad is the prophet of God, to prayer, time is flying from you, to prayer, to prayer, judgment is drawing nigh to you. In an instant, each Muslim cast himself from his horse, turned his face towards mecca and performed with sand an imitation of those abulations which were elsewhere required to be made with water while each individual in brief but fervent ejaculations recommended himself to the care and his sins to the forgiveness of god and the prophet even sir kenneth whose reason at once and prejudices were offended by seeing his companions in that which he considered as an act of idolatry could not help respect in the sincerity of their misguided zeal

Starting point is 10:45:34 and being stimulated by their fervour to apply supplications to heaven in a purer form wondering meanwhile what new-born feelings could teach him to accompany in prayer though with varied invocation those very saracens whose heathenist worship he had conceived a crime dishonourable to the land in which high miracles had been wrought, and where the day-star of redemption had arisen. The act of devotion, however, though rendered in such strange society, burst purely from his natural feelings of religious duty, and had its usual effect in composing the spirits, which had been long harassed by so rapid a succession of calamities. The sincere and earnest approach of the Christian,

Starting point is 10:46:22 to the throne of the almighty teaches the best lesson of patience under affliction since wherefore should we mock the deity with supplications when we insult him by murmuring under his decrees or how while our prayers have in every word admitted the vanity and nothingness of the things of time in comparison to those of eternity should we hope to deceive the searcher of hearts by permitting the world and worldly passions to resume their reigns even immediately after a solemn address to heaven but sir kenneth was not of these he felt himself comforted and strengthened and better prepared to execute or submit to whatever his destiny is might call upon him to do or to suffer. Meanwhile, the party of Saracens regained their saddles and continued their route, and the tale-teller Hassan resumed the thread of his narrative, but it was no longer to the same attentive audience. A horseman, who had ascended some high ground on the right hand of the little column, had returned on a steady gallop to El Haquim, and communicated with him. Four or five more cavalier.

Starting point is 10:47:40 ears had then been dispatched, and the little band, which might consist of about twenty or thirty persons, began to follow them with their eyes. As men from whose gestures, an advance or retreat, they were to augur good or evil, Hassan, finding his audience inattentive, all being himself attracted by the dubious appearances on the flank, stinted in his song, and the march became silent, save when a camel driver called out to his patient charge, or some anxious follower of the hecim, communicated with his next neighbour in a hurried and low whisper. This suspense continued until they had rounded a ridge,

Starting point is 10:48:27 composed of hillocks of sand, which concealed from their main body the object that had created this alarm among their scouts. Sir Kenneth could now see, at the distance of a mile or more, a dark object moving rapidly on the bosom of the desert, which is experienced i recognized for a party of cavalry much superior to their own in numbers and from the thick and frequent flashes which flung back the level beams of the rising sun it was plain that these were europeans in their complete panelpy the anxious looks which the horseman of el hakeem now cast upon their leader seemed to indicate deep apprehension while he with gravity as undisturbed as when he called his followers to prayer detached two of his best-mounted cavaliers, with instructions to approach as closely as prudence permitted

Starting point is 10:49:20 to these travellers of the desert, and observe more minutely their numbers, their character, and, if possible, their purpose. The approach of danger, or what was feared as such, was like a stimulating draught to one in apathy, and recalled Sir Kenneth to himself and his situation. What fear you from this Christian horseman, for such they seem? he said to the heikim fear said el hakeem repeating the word disdainfully the sage fears nothing but heaven but devere expects from wicked men the worst which they can do

Starting point is 10:50:01 they are christians said to kenneth and it is the time of truce why should you fear a breach of faith they are the priestly soldiers of the temple answered whose vow limits them to know neither truce nor faith with the worshippers of islam may the prophet blight them both root branch and twig this peace is war and their faith is falsehood other invaders of palestine have their times and moods of courtesy the lion richard will spare when he is conquered the eagle philip will close his wing when he has stricken a prey even the austrian bear will sleep when he is gorged but this hoard of ever hungrier walls know neither pause nor satiety in their apin seeest thou not that they are detaching a party from their main body and that they take an eastern direction yon are their pages and squires whom they train up in their accursed mysteries and whom as lighter mounted they send to cut us off from our watering-place but they will be disappointed i know the war of the desert yet better than they he spoke a few words to his principal officer and his whole demeanour and countenance was at once changed from the solemn repose of an eastern sage accustomed more to contemplation than to action into the prompt and proud expression of a gallant soldier whose energies are roused by the near approach of a danger which he at once foresees and despises to succiniscise the approaching crisis had a different aspect and when adam beck said to him thou must tarry close by my side he unth solemnly in the negative yonder he said are my comrades in arms the men in whose society are vowed to fight or fall on their banner gleams a sign of our most blessed redemption i cannot fly from the cross in company with the crescent fool said the hecim their first action would be to do thee to death

Starting point is 10:52:14 were it only to conceal their breach of the truce of that i must take my chance replied sir kenneth but i were not the bonds of the infidels an instant longer than i can cast them from me then i will compel thee to follow me said el hakeem compel answered sir kenneth angrily wert thou not my benefactor or one who has showed wilt be such and were it not that it is to thy confidence i owe the freedom of these hands which thou mightest have load with fetters. I would show thee that, unarmed as I am, compulsion would be no easy task. Enough, enough, replied the Arabian physician. We lose time, even when it is becoming precious. So saying he threw his arm aloft,

Starting point is 10:53:07 and uttered a loud and shrill cry as a signal to his retinue, who instantly dispersed themselves on the face of the desert, in as many different directions as a chaplet of beads when the string is broken. sir kenneth had no time to note what ensued for at the same instant the hakeem seized the reign of his steed and putting his own to its metal both sprung forth at once with the suddenness of light and under pitch of velocity which almost deprived the scottish knight of the power of respiration and left him absolutely incapable had he been desirous to have checked the career of his guide practised as sir kenneth was in horsemanship from his earliest youth The speediest horse he had ever mounted was a tortoise in comparison to those of the Arabian sage. They spurned the sand from behind them. They seemed to devour the desert before them. Miles flew away with minutes, and yet their strength seemed unabated,

Starting point is 10:54:07 and their aspiration as free as when they first started upon the wonderful race. The motion, too, as easy as it was swift, seemed more like flying through the air than riding on the earth, and was attended with no unpleasant sensation, save the awe naturally felt by one who is moving at such astonishing speed, and the difficulty of breathing occasioned by their passing through the air so rapidly. It was not until after an hour of this potentious motion, and when all human pursuit was far, far behind, that the hakeam at length relaxed his speed,

Starting point is 10:54:44 and, slackening the pace of the horses into a hand-gallop, began, in a voices composed, and, even as if he had been walking for the last hour, a descant upon the excellent of his courses to the Scot, who, breathless, half-blind, half-death, and altogether giddy, from the rapidity of this singular ride, hardly comprehended the words which flowed so freely from his companion. These horses, he said, are of the breed called the winged, equal in speed to aught except in the barak of the prophet. They are fed on the golden barley of Yemen, mixed with spices, and a small portion of dried sheep's flesh.

Starting point is 10:55:26 Kings have given provinces to possess them, and their rage is active as their youth. Thou, Nazarene, are to the first, save a true believer, that ever had, beneath his loins, one of this noble race, a gift of the prophet himself to the blessed Ali, his kinsman and lieutenant, well called to the lion of God. Time laces touched so lightly on these generous steeds, that the mare in which thou now sittest has seen five times five years pass over her, yet retains a pristine speed and vigor, only that in the career the support of a bridle,

Starting point is 10:56:03 managed by a hand more experienced than thine, hath now become necessary. May the prophet be blessed, who hath bestowed on the true believers the means of advance and retreat, which causeth their iron-clothed enemies to be worn out with their own ponderous weight. how the horses of yonder dog templars must have snorted and blown when they had toiled fetlock deep in the desert for one twentieth part of the space which these brave steeds have left behind them without one thick pant or drop of moisture upon their sleek and velvet coats the scottish knight who had now begun to recover his breath and powers of attention could not help acknowledging in his heart the advantage possessed by these eastern warriors in a race of animals a like proper

Starting point is 10:56:51 for advance or retreat, and so admirably adapted to the level and sandy deserts of Arabia and Syria. But he did not choose to augment the pride of the Muslim by acquiescing in his proud claim of superiority. Therefore suffered the conversation to drop, and, looking around him, could now, at the more moderate pace at which they moved, distinguished that he was in a country not unknown to him. The blighted borders and sullen waters of the Dead Sea, the ragged and pretexts, precipitous chain of mountains arising on the left the two or three palms clustered together forming the single green speck on the bosom of the waste wilderness objects which one's seen were scarcely to be forgotten showed to sir kenneth that they were approaching the fountain called the diamond of the desert which had been the scene of his interview on a former occasion with the saracen emir sherkov or rildarem in a few minutes they checked that horse as besie the spring, and the Hakeem invited Sir Kenneth to descend from horseback and repose himself as in a place of safety.

Starting point is 10:58:03 They unbridled their steeds, Al-Hakim observing that further care of them was unnecessary, since they would be speedily joined by some of the best mounted among his slaves, who would do what further was needful. Meantime, he said, spreading some food on the grass, eat and drink, and be not discouraged, may rise up or abase the ordinary mortal but the sage and the soldier should have minds beyond her control the scottish knight endeavoured to testify his thanks by showing himself docile but though he strove to eat out of complaisance the singular contrast between his present situation and that which he had occupied on the same spot when the envoy of princes and the victor in combat came like a cloud over his mind and fasting lassitude and fatigue oppressed his bodily powers. El Haquim exclaimed in hurried pulse, his red and inflamed eye, his heated hand and his shortened respiration.

Starting point is 10:59:08 The mind, he said, grows wise by watching. But her sister the body, of coarse and materials, needs the support of repose. Thou must sleep, and that thou mayest do so to refreshment. "'Thou must take a draught mingled with this elixir. He drew from his bosom a small crystal vial, "'cased in silver filigree work, "'and dropped into a little golden drinking-cup "'a small portion of a dark-coloured fluid.

Starting point is 10:59:42 "'This,' he said, "'is one of those productions which Allah hath sent on earth for a blessing, "'though man's weakness and wickedness "'have sometimes converted it into a curse. "'It is powerful as the wine-cup of the Nazareth, to drop the curtain on the sleepless eye and to relieve the burden of the overloaded bosom but when applied to the purposes of indulgence and debauchery it rends the nerves destroys the strength weakens the intellect and undermines life but fear not thou to use its virtues in the time of need for the wise man warms him by the same firebrand with which the madman burneth the tent open brackets some prepared operation of opium seems to be intimated close brackets i have seen too much of thy skills say jakeem said sir kenneth to debate thine

Starting point is 11:00:41 and swallowed the narcotic mingled as it was with some water from the spring then wrapped him in the hyac or arrow cloak which had been fastened to his saddle pommel and according to the directions of the physician stretched himself at ease in the shade to a way to the promised repose. Sleep came not at first, but in her stead a train of pleasing, yet not rousing or awakening sensations. A state ensued in which, still conscious of his own identity and his own condition, the knight felt enabled

Starting point is 11:01:15 to consider them not only without alarm and sorrow, but as composedly as he might have viewed the story of his misfortunes acted upon a stage, or rather as a disembodied spirit might regard the transactions of its past existence. From this state of repose, amounting almost to apathy respecting the past, his thoughts were carried forward to the future, which, in spite of all that existed to overcloud the prospect, glittered with such hues as, under much happier auspices, his unstimulated imagination had not been able to produce, even in its most exalted

Starting point is 11:01:53 state. Liberty, fame, successful love, appear to be the certain and not very distant prospect of the enslaved exile. The dishonoured night, even of the despairing lover who had placed his hopes of happiness so far beyond the prospect of chance, in her wildest possibilities, serving to countenance his wishes. Gradually, as the intellectual sight became overclouded, these gay visions became obscure, like the dying hues of sunset, until they were at last lost in total oblivion. And Sir Kenneth lay extended at the feet of El Hakeem, to all appearance, but for his deep respiration,

Starting point is 11:02:36 as inanimate a corpse as if life had actually departed. End of Chapter 22. Chapter 23 of the talisman. This is the Librevox recording, or Librevox recordings are in the public domain. For more information ought of it. volunteer please visit lipavox.org recording by a lizzie driver the talisman by sir walter scott chapter twenty three mid these wild scenes enchantment weighs her hand to change the face of the mysterious land till the bewildering scenes around us seem the vain productions of a feverish dream a stolfo a romance when the night of the leopard awoke from his long and profound repose he

Starting point is 11:03:32 He found himself in circumstances so different from those in which he had lain down to sleep that he doubted whether he was not still dreaming, or whether the scene had not been changed by magic. Instead of the damp grass, he lay on account of more than oriental luxury, and some kind hands had, during his repose, stripped him of the cassock of cameos, which he wore under his armour, and substituted night-dress of the finest linen and a loose gown of silk. He had been canopied only by the palm trees of the desert, but now he lay beneath the silken pavilion, which blazed with the richest colours of the Chinese loom,

Starting point is 11:04:12 while a slight curtain of gauze, displayed around his couch, was calculated to protect his repose from the insects, to which he had, ever since his arrival in these climates, been a constant and passive prey. He looked around, as if to convince himself that he was actually awake, and all that fell beneath his eye partook of the splendour of his dormitory. A portable bath of cedar, lined with silver, was ready for use, and steamed with the odours which had been used in preparing it.

Starting point is 11:04:44 On a small stand of ebony beside the couch stood a silver vase, containing sherbet of the most exquisite quality, cold as snow, and which the thirst that followed the use of the strong narcotic rendered peculiarly delicious. still further to dispel the dregs of intoxication which it had left behind the night resolved to use the bath and experienced in doing so a delightful refreshment having dried himself with napkins of the indian wool he would willingly have resumed his own coarse garments that he might go forth to see whether the world was as much changed without as within the place of its repose these however were nowhere to be seen but in their place he found a saracent dress of his repose but in their place he found a saracent dress of his repose of his repose these however were nowhere to be seen but in their place he found a saracent dress of rich materials, with sabre and poignard, and all befitting in a mirror of distinction. He was able to suggest no motive to himself for this exuberance of care, accepting a suspicion that these attentions were intended to shake him in his religious profession.

Starting point is 11:05:50 As indeed was well known, that the high esteem of the European knowledge and courage made the soldier unbounded in his gifts to those who, having become his prisoners, had been induced to take the turban. Sir Kenneth, therefore, crossing himself devoutly, resolved to set all such snares at defiance, and that he might do so the more firmly, conscientiously determined to avail himself as moderately as possible of the attentions and luxuries thus liberally heaped upon him.

Starting point is 11:06:22 Still, however, he felt his head depressed and sleepy, and aware, too, that his undress was not fit for appearing abroad. He reclined upon the couch and was again locked in the arms of slumber. But this time his rest was not unbroken, for he was awakened by the voice of the physician at the door of the tent, inquiring after his health and whether he had rested sufficiently. "'May I enter your tent?' he concluded, for the curtain is drawn before the entrance. "'The master,' replied Sir Kenneth, determined to show that he was not surprised in forgetfulness of his own condition.

Starting point is 11:07:05 Ney demand no permission to enter the tent at the slave. But if I come not as a master? Said El Haquim, still without entering. The physician, answered the knight, hath free access to the bedside of his patient. Neither come I now as a physician, replied Del Heikine, and therefore I still request permission,

Starting point is 11:07:32 ere I come under the covering of thy tent. whoever comes as a friend said sir kenneth and such thou hast hitherto shown thyself to me the habitation of the friend is ever open to him yet once again said the eastern sage after the paraphrasiatical manner of his countrymen supposing that i come not as a friend come as thou wilt said the scottish knight somewhat impatient of this circumlocation be what thou wilt thou knowest well it is neither in my power nor my inclination nor my inclination to refuse the entrance. I come then, said El Hakein, as your ancient foe, but a fair and a generous one. He entered as he spoke, and when he stood before the bedside of Sir Kenneth,

Starting point is 11:08:21 the voice continued to be that of Adam Beck, the Arabian physician. But the form, dress, and features were those of Ildrum of Kurdistan, called Cherkov. Sir Kenneth gazed upon him as if he expected the vision to depart. like something created by his imagination doth it so surprise thee said Ilderem and thou an approved warrior to see that a soldier knows something of the art of healing I say to thee Nezarin that an accomplished cavalier should know how to dress his steed as well as how to ride him how to forge his sword upon the steed thee as well as how to use it in battle how to burnish his arms as well as how to wear them and above all how to cure few wounds as well as how to inflict them.

Starting point is 11:09:10 As he spoke, the Christian knight repeatedly shut his eyes, and while they remained closed, the idea of the hekin, with his long, flowing dark robes, high tartar cap and grave gestures, was present to his imagination. But, so soon as he opened them, the graceful and richly gemmed turban, the light hubark of steel rings and twisted with silver,

Starting point is 11:09:33 which glanced brilliantly as it obeyed every infliction the body the features freed from their formal expression less swarthy and no longer shadowed by the mass of hair now limited to a well-trimmed beard announced the soldier and not the sage art thou still so much surprised said the emir and has thou walked in the world with such little observance as to wonder that men are not always what they seem thou thyself art thou what thou seamedest no by st andrew exclaimed the knight for to the whole christian camp i seem a traitor and i know myself to be a true though erring man even so i judged thee said ilterim and as we had eaten salt together i deemed myself bound to rescue thee from death and consummily but wherefore are you still on your couch since the sun is high in the heavens or are the vestments which my sumter camels have afforded unworthy of your wearing not unwelcome worthy, surely, but I'm fitting for it, replied the Scot. Give me the dress of a slave, noble Ildorim, and I will don it with pleasure. But I cannot brook to wear the habit of the free Eastern warrior, with the turban of the Muslim. Nazarene, answered the Emir.

Starting point is 11:11:01 Thy nation so easily entertained suspicion, that he may well render themselves suspect. Have I not told thee that Saladin's assayers no converts, saving those whom the Holy Prophet shall dispose, to submit themselves to his law. Violence and bribery are alike an alien to his plan for extending the true faith. Harkened to me, my brother, when the blind man was miraculously restored to sight, the scales dropped from his eyes at the divine pleasure. Think as thou that any earthly leech could have removed them? No, such medicine and might have tormented the patient with his instruments,

Starting point is 11:11:39 or perhaps sued him with balsams and cordials, but dark as he was must the darkened man have remained. and it is even so with the blindness of the understanding. If there be those among the Franks, who, for the sake of worldly liqueur, have assumed the turban of the prophet and followed the laws of Islam, would their own consciences be the blame?

Starting point is 11:12:01 Themselves sought out the bait. It was not flung to them by the Saldan, and when they shall hereafter be sentenced, as hypocrites, to the lowest gulf of hell, below Christian and Jew, magician in adulterer, and condemned to eat the fruit of the tree of yaconne which is the head of demons to themselves not to the sultan shall their guilt and their punishment be attributed wherefore where without doubt or scruple the vester are prepared for you since if you proceed to the camp of saladin your own native dress will expose you to troublesome observation and perhaps to insult if i go to the camp of saladin

Starting point is 11:12:42 said sir kenneth repeating the words of the emir alas amyent and rather must i not go wherever your pleasure carries me thine own will may guide thine own motions said the emir as freely as the wind which moveeth the dust of the desert in what direction it chooses the noble enemy who met and well mine master my sword cannot become my slave like him who has crouched beneath it if wealth and power would tempt thee to join our people i could ensure thy possessing them but the man who refused the favors of the sultan when the axe was at his head will not i fear now accept them when i tell him he has free choice "'Complete your generosity, noble emir,' said Sir Kenneth, "'by forbearing to show me a mode of requital, "'which conscience forbids me to comply with. "'Permit me rather to express, as bound in courtesy, "'my gratitude for this most chivalrous bounty,

Starting point is 11:13:44 "'this undeserved generosity.' "'Say not undeserved,' replied the emir, Ilderim. "'Was it not through thy conversation, "'and thy account of the beauties which grazed the court of this melequessing, brick, that I ventured me thither in disguise, and thereby procured a sight the most blessed that I have ever enjoyed, that I ever shall enjoy, until the glories of paradise beam on my eyes. I understand you not, said Sir Kenneth, colouring alternately and turning pale, as one who felt that the conversation was taken a tone of the most painful delicacy.

Starting point is 11:14:22 "'Not understand me?' exclaimed the emir. if the sight i saw in the tend of kin richard escaped thine observation i will account it duller than the edge of a buffoon's wooden falchon true thou wert a descendant of death at the time but in my case had my head been dropping from the trunk the last strained glances of my eyeballs had distinguished with delight such a vision of loveliness and the head would have rolled itself towards the incomparable horace to kiss with its quivering lips the hem of their vestments yonder royalty of england who for her superior loveliness deserves to be the queen of the universe what tenderness in her blue eyes what lustre in her tresses of dishevelled gold by the tomb of the prophet i scarce think that the hawai who shall present me the diamond cup of immortality will deserve so warm a caress saracen said sir kenneth stanley thou speakest of the wife of richard of england of whom men think not and speak not and speak not as a woman to be won, but as a queen to be revered. I cry your mercy, said the Saracen. I had forgotten your superstitious veneration for the sex,

Starting point is 11:15:37 which you consider rather fit to be wandered at and worshipped, than wooed and possessed. I warrant, since thou exactest such profound respect to yonder tender piece of frailty, whose every motioned step and look bespeaks her very woman, lest an absolute adoration must not be yielded to her, of the dark tresses, a nobly speaking eye. She, indeed, I will allow, hath in her noble port to majestic mane, something at once pure and firm.

Starting point is 11:16:06 Yet even she, when pressed by opportunity and a forward lover, would I warrant thee, thank him in her heart rather for treating her as a mortal than as a goddess? Respect the kinswoman of Cur de Leon, said Sir Kenneth in a tone of unrepressed anger. "'Respect her?' "'Ansed the emir in scorn. "'By the caba, and if I do, it shall be rather as the bride of Saladin.' "'The infidel Soldan is unworthy to salute even a spot that has been pressed by the foot of Edith Pontagent.'

Starting point is 11:16:40 "'Exclamed the Christian, springing from his couch. "'Ha! what said the guill?' exclaimed the emir, laying his hand on his poignant tilt, while his forehead glowed like glance in copper, and the muscles of his lips and cheeks wrought till each curl of his beard seemed to twist and screw itself, as if alive with instinctive wrath. But the Scottish knight, who had stood the lion anger of Richard, was unappalled at the tiger-like mood of the chafed Saracen.

Starting point is 11:17:12 "'What I have said,' continued Sir Kenneth, with folded arms and dauntless look, "'I would, when my hands loose, maintain on foot, foot or horseback against all mortals, and were told it not to the most memorable deed of my life to support it with my good broadsword against a score of these sickles and bodkins, pointing at the curbed savor and small poignard of the emir. The Saracen recovered his composure as the Christian spoke, so far as to withdraw his hand from his weapon, as if the motion had been without meaning, but still continued in deep ire. By the sword of the prophet, he said, which

Starting point is 11:17:52 is the key both of heaven and hell, he little values his own life, brother, who uses the language thou dost? Believe me, that were thine hands loose, as thou terms did, one single true believer would find them so much to do that thou would soon wish them fettered again in manacles of iron. Sooner would I wish them hewn off by the shoulder-blades, replied Sir Kenneth. Well, thy hands are bound at present, said the Saracen, in more amicable tone. bound by thine own gentle sense of courtesy nor have i any present purpose of setting them at liberty we approved each other's strength and courage here now and we may again meet in a fair field and shame before him who shall be the first depart from his foeman but we are now friends and i look for aid from thee rather than hard terms or defiances we are friends repeated the knight and there was a pause during which the fire sarrison paced the tent like the lion who after violent irritation is said to take that method of cooling that is temperate of his blood ere he stretches himself to repose in his den

Starting point is 11:19:07 the colder european remained unaltered in posture and aspect yet he doubtless was also engaged in subduing the angry feelings which had been so unexpectedly awakened let us reason of this calmly said the saracen i am a physician as thou knowest and it is written that here he would have his wound cured must not shrink when the leech probes and tests it seest thou i am about to lay my finger on the sore thou lovest this kinswoman of the melach rick unfolded the veil that shrouds thy thoughts or unfolded not if thou wilt for mine eye see through its coverings i loved her answered sir kenneth after a pause as a man loves heaven's grace and sued for her favour like a sinner for heaven's pardon and you love her no longer said the saracen alas answered sir kenneth i am no longer worthy to love her i pray thee cease this discourse thy words are poignards to me pardon me but a moment continued dilderim when thou a poor and obscure soldier did so bolder boldly and so highly fixed thine affection. Tell me, hadst thou a good hope of its issue? Love exists not without hope, replied the knight, but mine was as nearly a lie to despair as that of the sailor swimming for his life, who, as he surmounts billow after billow, catches by

Starting point is 11:20:42 interval some glean of the distant beacon, which shows him there is land in sight, though his sinking heart and wearied limbs assure him that he shall never reach it. And now, "'Sard Ilderim, these hopes are sunk. That solitary light is quenched forever?' "'Forever,' answered Sir Kenneth, in the tone of an echo from the bosom of a ruined sepulchre. "'Me thinks,' said the Saracen, "'if all thou lackest with some such distinct meteoric glimpse of happiness as thou hadst formerly, thy beacon light might be rekindled, thy hope fished up from the ocean in which it has sunk and thou thyself good-night restore to the exercise and amusement of nourishing my fantastic fashion upon a diet as unsubstantial as moonlight for if thou stood as to-morrow fair and reputation as ever thou wert she whom thou lovest would not be less the daughter of princes and the elected bride of saladin i would it stood so said the scott and if i did not

Starting point is 11:21:50 he stopped short like a man who is afraid of boasting under circumstances which did not permit his being put to the test the saracen smiled as he concluded the sentence thou wouldst challenge the sultan to single combat said he and if i did said sir kenneth haughtily saladins would neither be the first nor the best turban that i have couched lance at ay but methinks the sultan might regard it as too unequal a mode of periling the chance of a royal bride and the event of a great war said the emir he may be met with in the front of battle said the knight his eyes gleaming with the ideas which such a thought inspired he has been ever found there said ilterim nor is it his wont to turn his horse's head from any brave encounter but it was not of the sultan that i meant to speak in a word if it will content thee to be placed in such reputation as may be attained by detection of the thief who stole the banner of england i can put thee in a fair way of achieving this task that is if thou wilt be governed for what says lochman if the child would walk the nurse must lead him if the ignorant would understand the wise must instruct and thou art wise elder him said the scott wise though a saracen and generous though an infidel i have witnessed that thou art both take then the guidance of this matter and so thou art nothing of me contrary to my loyalty and my christian faith i will obey thee punctually do what thou hast said and take my life when it is accomplished listen to me then said the saracen thy noble hound is now recovered by the blessing of that divine medicine which healeth man and beast and by his sagacity shall those who assailed him be discovered

Starting point is 11:23:56 ha said the knight methinks i comprehend thee i was dull not to think of this but tell me added the emir has thou any followers or retainers in the camp by whom the animal may be known i dismissed said sir kenneth my old attendant thy patient with a valet that waited on him at the time when i expected to suffer death giving him letters from my friends in scotland there are none other to whom this dog is familiar but then my own person is well known my very speech will betray me in a camp where he have played no mean part for many months both he and thou shalt be disguised so as to escape even close examination i tell thee said the saracen that not thy brother in arms not thy brother in blood shall discover thee if thou be guided by my consuls thou hast seen me do matters more difficult he that can call the dying from the darkness of the shadow of death can easily cast a mist before the eyes of the living but mark me there is still the condition annexed to this service that thou deliver a letter of saladin to the niece of the melach rick whose name is as difficult to our eastern tongue and lips as her beauty is delightful to our eyes sir kenneth paused before he answered and the saracen observing his hesitation demanded of him if he feared to undertake this message not if there were death in the execution said sir kenneth i do but pause to consider what it consists with my honour to bear the letter of the Saldan, or with that of the late Edith,

Starting point is 11:25:44 to receive it from a heathen prince. By the head of Muhammad, and by the honour of a soldier, by the tomb at Mecca and by the soul of my father, said the Emir, I swear to thee that the letter is written in all honour and respect. The song of the Nightingale was sooner blight the rose-bow as she loves, than the words of the Saldane offend the ears of the lovely Kingswoman of England. then, said the knight, I will bear the Saldan's letter faithfully, as if I were his born vassal, understanding that beyond this simple act of service,

Starting point is 11:26:21 which I will render with filth, which I will render with fidelity, for me of all men he can least expect mediation or advance in his strange love suit. Saladin is noble, answered the emir, and will not spur a generous horse to a leap which he cannot achieve. Come with me to my tent, he added,

Starting point is 11:26:42 and thou shalt be presently equipped with a disguise as unsearchable as midnight, so thou mayest walk the camp of the Nazarenes, as if thou hadst on thy finger the signant of Guyugai. End of chapter 23. Chapter 24 of the talisman. This is a Librevox recording, all Librevox recordings are in the public domain.

Starting point is 11:27:09 For more information ought to volunteer, here, please visit Librivox.org. Recording by a Lizzie Driver The Talisman by Sir Walter Scott Chapter 24 A grain of dust, swilling our cup, will make our sense reject fastidiously the draught which we did thirst for. A rusted nail, placed near the faithful compass,

Starting point is 11:27:34 will sway it from the truth, and direct the argosy. You in this more cause of anger and disgust, will break the bonds of amity, amongst princes, and wreck their noblest purposes. The Crusade The reader can now have little doubt Who the Ethiopian slave really was,

Starting point is 11:27:54 With what purpose he had sought riches camp, And wherefore, and with what hope he now stood close To the person of that monarch, As, surrounded by his valiant peers of England and Normandy, Cudelian stood on the summit of St. George's Mount, With the banner of England by his side, born by the most goodly person in the army, being his own natural brother, William, with the longsword, Earl of Salisbury, the offspring of Henry II's Amour, with the celebrated Rosemond of Woodstock. For several expressions in the king's conversation with Neville on the preceding day,

Starting point is 11:28:30 the Nubian was left in anxious doubt whether his disguise had not been penetrated, especially as that the king seemed to be aware, in what manner the agency of the dog was expected to discover the thief who stole the banner. Although the circumstance of such an animal's having been wounded on the occasion had been scarce mentioned in Richard's presence, Nevertheless, as the king continued to treat him in no other manner than his exterior required, the Nubian remained uncertain whether he was or was not discovered, and determined not to throw his disguise aside voluntarily.

Starting point is 11:29:10 Meanwhile, the powers of the various crusading princes, arrayed under their royal and princely leaders, swept in long order around the base at the Little Mound, and as those of each different country passed by, their commanders advanced a step or two up the hill and made a signal of courtesy to richard and to the standard of england in sign of regard and amity as the protocol of the ceremony heedfully expressed it not of subjugation or vassalage the spiritual dignitaries who in those days failed not to their bonnets to created being bestowed on the king and dissymbol of command their blessing instead of rendering obeisance thus the long fowls marched on and diminished, as they were by so many causes, appeared still in an iron host, to whom the conquest of Palestine might seem an easy task.

Starting point is 11:30:06 The soldiers, inspired by the consciousness of united strength, satir erect in their steel saddles, while it seemed that the trumpets sounded more cheerfully shrill, and the steeds, refreshed by rest and provander, chafed on the bit and trod the ground more proudly, on they passed troop after troop banners waving spears glancing plumes dancing in long perspective a host composed of different nations complexions languages arms and appearances but all fired for the time with the holy yet romantic purpose of rescuing the distressed daughter of zion from a thraldom and redeeming the sacred earth which more than mortal are trodden from the yoke of the unbelieving pagan and he must be earned that if in other circumstances the species of courtesy rendered to the king of england by so many warriors from whom he claimed no natural allegiance had in it something that might have been thought humiliating

Starting point is 11:31:09 yet the nature and cause of the war was so fitted to his pre-eminently chivalrous character and renowned feet in arms that claims which might elsewhere have been urged were there forgotten and the brave did willing homage to the bravest in an expedition where the most undaunted and energetic courage was necessary to success the good king was seated on horseback about half-way up the mount a morion on his head surmounted by a crown which left his manly features exposed to public view as with cool and considerate eye he perused each rank as it passed him and returned the salutation of the leaders his tunic was of sky-coloured velvet covered with plates of silver and his hose of crimson silk slashed with cloth of gold by his side stood the seeming ethiopian slave holding the noble dog in a leash such as was used in woodcraft it was a circumstance which attracted no notice for many of the princes of the crusade had introduced black slaves into their household in imitation of the barbarous splendor of the saracens over the king's head streamed the large folds of the banner and as he looked to it from time to time he seemed to regard a ceremony indifferent to himself personally as important when considered as atoning and indignity offered to the kingdom which he ruled in the background and on the very summit of the mount a wooden turret erected for the occasion held the queen beringeria and the principal ladies of the court to this the king looked from time to time and then ever and anon his eyes were turned on the nubian and the dog but only when such leaders approached as from circumstances of previous ill-will he suspected of being accusory to the theft of the standard or whom he just capable of

Starting point is 11:33:13 of a crime so mean. Thus, he did not look in that direction, when Philip Augustus of France approached at the head of his splendid troops of Gaelic chivalry. Nay, he anticipated the motions of the French king, by descending the mount as the letter came up the ascent, so that they met in the middle space, and blended their greeting so gracefully that it appeared they met in fraternal equality. The sight of the two greatest princes in Europe, in rank at once and power, thus publicly avowing their concord, called forth bursts of thundering acclaim from the crusading host at many miles distant, and made the roving Arab scouts to the desert alarm the camp of Saladin, with intelligence that the army of the Christians was in motion, yet whom at the king of kings

Starting point is 11:34:06 can read the hearts of monarchs. Under this smooth show of courtesy, Richard nourished displeasure and suspicion against Philip, and Philip meditated withdrawing himself and his host from the army of the cross, and leaving Richard to accomplish or fail in the enterprise, with his own unassisted forces. Richard's demeanour was different when the dark-armed knights and squires of the temple chivalry approached, men with countenances bronze to asiatic blackness by the sons of Palestine, and the admirable state of whose horses and appointments far surpassed, even that of the choicest troops of France and England.

Starting point is 11:34:46 The king cast a hasty glance aside, but the Nubian stood quiet, and his trusty dog sat at his feet, watching, with a sagacious yet pleased looks, the ranks which now passed before them. The king's look turned again on the chivalrous Templars, as the grandmaster, invailing himself of his mingled character,

Starting point is 11:35:09 bestowed his benediction on Richard as a priest, instead of doing him reverence as a military leader. The misproud and amphibious cative puts the monk upon me, said Richard to the Earl of Salisbury. But Longsword, we will let it pass. A punctiller must not lose Christiandom the surfaces of these experienced lances, because their victories have rendered them overweening. Lo, you, here comes our valent adversary, the Duke of Austria,

Starting point is 11:35:41 mark his manner and bearing, Longsword, and thou Nubian, let the hound have full view of, him by heaven he brings us buffoons along with him in fact whether from habit or which is more likely to intimate contempt of the ceremonial he was about to comply with leopold was attended by his spruhe sprecher and his jester and as he advanced towards richard he whistled in what he wished to be considered as an indifferent manner though his heavy features convinced the sullenness mixed with the fear with which a truant schoolboy may be seen to a approach his master, as the reluctant dignitary made, with discomposed and sulky look, the obeisance required. The spruhe sprue-sbracker shook his baton, and proclaimed like a herald, that, in what he was now doing, the Archduke of Austria was not to be held derogating from the rank and privileges of a sovereign prince, to which the jester answered with a sonorous amen, which provoked much laughter among the bystanders.

Starting point is 11:36:49 King Richard looked more than once at the Nubian and his dog, but the former moved not, nor did the latter strain at the leash, so that Richard said to the slave with some scorn. Thy success in this enterprise, my sable friend, even though thou hast brought thy hound's sagacity to back thine own, will not, I fear, place thee high in the rank of wizards, or much augment thy merits towards our person. The Nubian answered, as usual, only by a lowly obeisance.

Starting point is 11:37:21 meantime the troops of the marquess of montserrat next passed in order before the king of england that powerful and wily baron to make the greater display of his forces had divided them into two bodies at the head of the first consisting of his vassals and followers and levied from his syrian possessions came his brother enjurand and he himself followed leading on a gallant band of twelve hundred star-doids a kind of light cavalry raised by the Venetians in the Dalmatian possessions, and of which they had entrusted to the command of the Marquess, with whom the Republic had many bonds of connection. The Stardoids were clothed in a fashion partly European, but partaking chiefly of the eastern fashion. They wore indeed short hubrocks, but had over them partly coloured tunics of rich stuffs, with large, wide pantaloons and half-boots. On their heads were straight, upright caps, similar to those of the Greeks, and they carried small round targets, bows and arrows, scimitres and poignyards. They were mounted

Starting point is 11:38:35 on horses carefully selected, and well maintained at the expense of the state of Venice. Their saddles and appointments resembled those of the Turks, and they rode in the same manner, with short stirrups and upon a high seat. These troops were of great use in skirmishing with the Arabs, though unable to engage in close combat, like the iron-sheathed men at arms of Western and Northern Europe. Before this goodly band came Conrad, in the same garb with the Stardoids, but of such rich stuff that he seemed to blaze with gold and silver, and the milk-white plume fastened in his cap by a clasp of diamonds, seemed tall enough to sweep the clouds. The noble steed, which he reigned bounded and caracled, and displayed his spirit in agility in a manner which mifed troubled a less admirable horseman the Marquess,

Starting point is 11:39:30 who gracefully ruled him with the one hand, while the other displayed the baton, whose predominancy over the ranks which he led seemed equally absolute, yet his authority over the Stardois was more in show than in substance. For the paced behind him, on an ambling palfrey of soberest mood, a little old man dressed entirely in black, without beard, or mustaches, and having an appearance altogether mean and insignificant, when compared with the blaze of splendor around him. But this mean-looking old man was one of those deputies

Starting point is 11:40:07 whom the Venetian government sent into camps to overlook the conduct of the generals to whom the leading was consigned, and maintain that jealous system of espial and control, which had long distinguished the policy of the republic, conrad who by cultivating richard's humour had attained a certain degree of favour with him no sooner was come within his ken than the king of england descended a step or two to meet him exclaiming at the same time ha lord marquez thou at the head of the fleet of stardoids and thy black shadow attending thee as usual whether the sun shines or not may not one ask thee whether the rule of the troops remains of the shadow or the substance conrad was commencing his reply with a smile when roswell the noble hound uttering a ferocious and savage yell sprang forward the nubian at the same time slipped the leash and the hound rushing on leaped upon conrad's noble charger and seating the marquess by the throat pulled him down from the saddle the plumed rider lay rolling on the sand and the frightened horse fled in wild career through the camp

Starting point is 11:41:22 thy hound hath pulled down the right quarry i warrant him said the king to the nubian and i vow to st george he is a stag of ten times pluck the dog off lest he throttel him the ethiopian accordingly though not without difficulty disengaged the dog from conrad and fastened him up still highly excited and struggling in the leash meanwhile many are crowded to the spot especially followers of conrad and officers of the stard's who as they saw their leader lie gazing wildly on the sky raised him up amid a tumultory cry of cut the slave into a hound to pieces but the voice of richard loud and sonorous was heard clear above all other exclamations he dies the death who injures the hound he hath but done his duty after the sagacity with which god and nature have endowed the brave animal stand forward for a false traitor thou conrad marquess of montserrat i impeach thee of treason several of the syrian leaders had now come up and conrad vexation and shame and confusion struggling with passion in his manner and voice exclaimed what means this with what am i charged why this base usage and these reproachful terms is this the league of concord which england renewed but so lately are the princess of the crusade turned hairs or dears in the eyes of king richard that he should slip hounds on them said the sepular choral voice of the grand master of the templars it must be some singular accident some fatal mistake said philippa france who rode up at the same moment some deceit of the enemy said the archbishop of tyre

Starting point is 11:43:20 a stratagem of the saracens cried henry of champagne it were well to hang up the dog and put the slave to torture let no man lay hand upon them said richard as he loves his own life conrad stand forth with thou darest and deny the accusation with which this mute animal hath in his noble instinct brought against thee of injury done to him and foul scorn to england i never touched the banner said conrad hastily thy words betray thee conrad said richard for how didst thou know save from conscious guilt that the question is concerning the banner has thou not kept the camp in turmoil and that and no other score answered conrad and dost thou impute to a prince and an ally a crime which after all was probably committed by some petty felon for the sake of the gold thread wouldst thou now impeach a confederate on the credit of a dog by this time the alarm was becoming general so that philip of france interposed princes and nobles he said you speak in presence of those whose swords will soon be at the throats of each other if they hear their leaders in such terms together in the name of heaven let us draw off each his own troops into their separate quarters and ourselves meet in our hands in the pavilion of council to take some order in this new state of confusion content said king richard though i should have liked to have interrogated the cative while his gay doublet was yet besmirched with sand but the pleasure of france shall be ours in this matter the leader separated as was proposed each prince placing himself at the head of his own forces and then was heard on all sides the crying of war-cries and the sounding of gathering notes upon bugles and trumpets by which the different stragglers was summoned to their prince's banner and the troop

Starting point is 11:45:21 were shortly set in motion, each taking different routes through the camp to their own quarters. But, although any immediate act of violence was thus prevented, yet the accident which had taken place dwelt on every mind, and those foreigners who had that morning hailed Richard as the worthiest to lead their army, now resumed their prejudices against his pride and intolerance, while the English, conceiving the honour of their country connected with the quarrel, of which various reports had gone about, considered the natives of other countries jealous of the fame of England and her king, and disposed to undermine it by the meanest arts of intrigue. Many and various were the rumours spread upon the occasion, and there was one which averred

Starting point is 11:46:08 that the Queen and her ladies had been much alarmed by the tumult, and that one of them had swooned. The council assembled at the appointed hour. Conrad had, in the meanwhile, laid aside his dishonoured dress, and with it the shame and confusion which, in spite of his tallards and promptitude, had at first overwhelmed him, owing to the strangeness of the accident and the suddenness of the accusation. He was now robed like a prince, and entered the council chamber attended by the Archduke of Austria, the grandmasters both of the temple and of the Order of St. John, and several other potentates, who made a show of supporting him and defending his cause, chiefly perhaps from political motives, or because they themselves nourished a personal enmity against Richard.

Starting point is 11:46:58 The appearance of Union in favour of Conrad was far from influencing the King of England. He entered the Council with his usual indifference of manner, and in the same dress in which he had just delighted from horseback. He cast a careless and somewhat scornful glance on the leaders, who had, with studied affectation, arranged themselves around Connoxious. Conrad, as if owing his cause. And in the most direct terms charged Conrad of Montserrat, with having stolen the banner of England, and wounded the faithful animal who stood in its defence. Conrad arose boldly to answer, and in despite, as he expressed himself of man and brute, king or dog, avouched his innocence of the crime charged. "'Brother of England,' said Philip,

Starting point is 11:47:48 who willingly assumed the character of moderator of the assembly, this is an unusual impeachment we do not hear you avouch your own knowledge of this matter further than your belief resisting upon the demeanour of this hound towards the marquess of montserrat surely the word of a knight and a prince should bear him out against the barking of a cur royal brother returned richard recollect that the almighty who gave the dog to be a companion of our pleasures and our toils had invested him with a nature noble and incapable of deceit he forgets neither friend nor "'Beembers, and with accuracy, both benefit and injury. "'He had the share of man's intelligence, but no share of man's falsehood. "'You may bribe a soldier to slay a man with his sword, "'or a witness to take life by false accusation. "'But you cannot make a hound tear his benefactor.

Starting point is 11:48:41 "'He is a friend of man, save when man justly incurs his enmity. "'Dress yonder Marquess in what peacock robes you will. "'Discise his appearance, alter his complexion with drugs and washing, hide him amidst the hundred men. I will yet pawn my sceptre that the hound detects him, and expresses his resentment, as you have this day beheld. This is no new incident, although a strange one. Murderers and robbers have been here now convicted,

Starting point is 11:49:10 and suffered death under such evidence, and men have said that the finger of God was in it. In thine own land, royal brother, and upon such an occasion, the matter was tried by a solemn jewel betwixt the man and the dog, as appellant and defendant in a challenge of murder the dog was victorious the man was punished and the crime was confessed credit me royal brother that hidden crimes are often being brought to light by the testimony even of inanimate substances not to mention animals far inferior in instinctive sagacity to the dog who is the friend and companion of our race such a jewel there hath indeed been royal brother answered philip and that in the reign of one of our predecessors to whom god be gracious but it was in the olden time nor can we hold it a precedent fitting for this occasion the defendant in that case was a private gentleman of small rank or respect his offensive weapons were only a club his defensive a leathern jerkin but we cannot degrade a prince to the disgrace of using such rude arms or to the ignominy of such a combat

Starting point is 11:50:23 i never meant that you should said king richard it were foul play to hazard the good hound's life against that of such a double-faced traitor as his conrad has proved himself but there lies our own glove we appeal him to the combat in respect of the evidence we brought forth against him a king at least is more than the mate of a marquess conrad made no hasty effort to season the pledge which richard cast into the middle of the assembly and king philip had time to reply ere the marquess made a motion to lift the glove a king said he of france is a much more than a match for the marquess conrad as a dog would be less whirl richard this cannot be permitted you are the leader of our expedition the sword and buckler of christian i protest against such a combat said the venetian providator until the king of england shall have repaid to the fifty thousand byzance which he is indebted to the republic it is enough to be threatened with loss of our debt should our debtor fall by the hands of the pagans without the additional risk of his being slain and brawls amongst christians concerning dogs and banners and i said william with the long-sword earl of salisbury protest in my turn against my royal brother periling his life which is the property of the people of england in such a cause here noble brother receive back your glove and think only as if the wind had blown it from your hand Mine shall lie in its steed. A king's son, though with the bar, sinister on his shield,

Starting point is 11:52:02 is at least the match for this marmoset of a marquess. Princes and nobles, said Conrad, I will not accept a King Richard's defiance. He had been chosen our leader against the Saracens, and if his conscience can answer the accusation of provoking an ally to the field on a quarrel so frivolous, mine at least cannot endure the reproach of accepting it. But, touching his bastard brother,

Starting point is 11:52:28 William of Woodstock, or against any other who shall adopt or shall dare to stand Godfather to his most false charge, I will defend my honour in the lists, and prove whosoever impeaches it a false liar. The Marques a Monserat, said the Archbishop of Tyre, had spoken like a wise and moderate gentleman, and methinks this controversy might, without dishonour to any party, and at this point, methinks it might so terminate said the king of france provided king richard will recall his accusation as made upon over slight grounds philippa france answered cordillian my word shall never do my thoughts so much injury i have charged john o'conrad as a thief who and a cloud of night stole from its place the emblem of england's dignity i still believe in charge him to be such and when a day is appointed for the combat doubt not that, since Conrad declines to meet us in person, I will find a champion to appear in support of my challenge. For thou, William, must not thrust their long sort into this crawl without

Starting point is 11:53:37 our special license. Since my rank makes me arbiter in this most unhappy matter, said Philippa France, I appoint the fifth day from hence for the decision thereof, by way of combat, according to knightly usage, Richard, king of England, to appear by his champion and his champion as appellant, and Conrad, Marquesa Montserrat, in his own person, as defendant. Yet I owe I know not where to find neutral ground, where such a quarrel may be fought out, for it must not be in the neighbourhood of this camp, where the soldiers would make faction on the different sides. It were well, said Richard, to apply to the generosity of the Royal Saladin, since, heathen as

Starting point is 11:54:22 he is, I have never no knight more fulfilled of nobleness, or to who the well. good faith we may so preemptily entrust ourselves i speak thus for those who may be doubtful of mishap for myself whenever i see my foe i make that spot my battle-ground be it so said philip we will make this matter known to saladin although it be showing to an enemy the unhappy spirit of discord which we would willingly hide from even ourselves were it possible meanwhile i dismiss this assembly and charge you all as christian men and noble knights that that she led this unhappy feud breed no further brawling in the camp, but regarded as a thing solemnly referred to the judgment of God, to whom each of you should pray that he will dispose of victory in the combat, according to the truth of the quarrel. And therewith may his will be done.

Starting point is 11:55:16 Amen, amen, was the answer on all sides. All the Templar whispered the Marquess, Conrad, would thou not add a petition to be delivered from the power of the dog, as a psalmist has it peace thou replied the marquess there is a revealing demon abroad which may report amongst other tidings how far thou dost carry the motto of thy order ferriator leo delt would stand the brunt of a challenge said the templar out me not said conrad i would not have willingly met the iron arm of richard himself and I shame not to confess that I rejoice to be free of his encounter. But, from his bastard brother downward, the man breathed not in his ranks whom I fear to meet. It is well you are so confident, continued the Templar,

Starting point is 11:56:15 and in that case the fangs of yonder hand have done more to dissolve this league of princes than neither thy devices or the dagger of the shagite. Seest thou how, under a brow studiously overclouded, "'Philip cannot conceal the satisfaction which he feels "'at the prospect of release from the alliance which sat so heavy on him. "'Mark how Henry of Champagne smiles to himself, "'like a sparkling goblet of his own wine, "'and see the chuckling delight of Austria,

Starting point is 11:56:44 "'who thinks his quarrel is about to be avenged "'without risk or trouble of his own. "'Hush, he approaches, "'a most grievous chance, most royal Austria, "'that these breeches in the wards of Arzain.' if thou meanest this crusade replied the duke it would it were crumbled to pieces and each were safe at home i speak this in confidence but said the marquess of montserrat to think this disunion should be made by the hands of king richard for whose pleasure we have been contented to endure so much and to whom we have been as submissive as slaves to a master in hopes that he would use his valour against our enemies instead of exercising and upon our friends. I see not that he is so much more valorous than others, said the archduke,

Starting point is 11:57:35 I believe, had the noble Marquess met him in the lists, he would have had the better. For though the islander deals heavy blows with the Polax, he is not so very dexterous with the lance. I should have cared little to have met him myself in our old quarrel, had the will of Christiandom, permitted two sovereign princes to breathe themselves in the lists. "'And if thou desirest, noble Marquez, "'I will myself be your godfather in this combat.' "'And I also,' said the Grandmaster. "'Come, then, and take your nooning in our tents, noble sirs,' said the Duke.

Starting point is 11:58:13 "'And we all speak of this business over some right to Nerenstein.' "'They entered together accordingly.' "'What said our patron and these great folks together?' "'said Jonas Shawanker to his companion. the spruhe spracher, who had used the freedom to pass nigh to his master when the council was dismissed, while the jester waited at a more respectful distance. Servant of folly, said the spruhe spruhe. Moderate thy curiosity, it beseems not that I should tell to thee the councils of our master. Man of wisdom, you mistake, answered Jonas, we are both the constant attendance on our patron,

Starting point is 11:58:55 and it concerns us alike to know whether thou or I, wisdom or folly, have the deeper interest in him. He told to the Marquess, answered the Sprake, and to the Grandmaster, that he was a weary of these wars, and would be glad he was safe at home. That is a drawn cast, and counts for nothing in the game, said the jester. It was most wise to think thus, but great folly to tell it to others. Proceed? "'Ahem,' said the spruhe's Brecker. He next said to them that Richard was not the more valorous than others,

Starting point is 11:59:33 or over dexterous in the tilt-yard. Woodcock of my side, said Schoenker. This was egregious folly. What next?' "'Nay, I am something oblivious,' replied the man of wisdom. He invited them to a goblet of Neonstein. "'That hath a show of wisdom in it,' said Jonas. Thou mayest mark it to thy credit in the meantime. But can he drink too much, as is most likely, I will have it passed to mine.

Starting point is 12:00:06 Anything more? Nothing worth memory, answered the orator. Only he wished he had taken the occasion to meet Richard in the lists. Out upon it, out upon it, said Jonas. This is such a dotage of folly that I am well nigh ashamed of winning the game by it. Nevertheless, fool as he is. We will follow him. most sage spraussbrecker and have our share of the wine of nianstein end of chapter twenty four chapter twenty five of the talisman this is a librivox recording all librivox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit librivox dot org recording by lizzie driver the talisman by sir walter scott chapter twenty five yet this inconsistency is so long as soon as

Starting point is 12:01:06 such, as thou too shall adore. I could not love thee, love so much, loved I not honour more. Montrose's lines. When King Richard returned to his tent, he commanded the Nubian to be brought before him. He entered with his usual ceremonial reverence, and having prostrated himself,

Starting point is 12:01:29 remained standing before the king in the attendance of a slave awaiting the orders of his master. It was perhaps well for him that the preservation of his character required his eyes to be fixed on the ground, since the keen glance, with which Richard for some time surveyed him in silence would, if fully encountered, have been difficult to sustain. Thou canst dwell of woodcraft, said the king after a pause, and as stated thy game and brought him to bay as ably as if Tristam himself had taught thee, open brackets.

Starting point is 12:02:05 A universal tradition ascribed as Sir Tristram, famous for his love with the fair queen of Zolk. The laws concerning the practice of woodcraft, or venery, as it was called, being those that related to the rules of the chase, which were deemed of much consequences during the Middle Ages, close brackets. But this is not all. He must be brought down at force.

Starting point is 12:02:30 I myself would have liked to have levelled my hunting spirit him. There are, it seems, respects which prevent this. Thou art about to return to the camp of the Saldan, bearing a letter, requiring of his courtesy to appoint neutral ground for the deed of chivalry, and should it consist with his pleasure, to concur with us in witnessing it? Now, speaking conjectuary, we think thou mightest find in that camp some cavalier, who, for the love of truth and his own augmentation of honour,

Starting point is 12:03:01 will do battle with this same traitor of Monserat. the nubian raised his eyes and fixed them on the king with a look of eager ardor then raised them to heaven with such solemn gratitude that the water soon glistened in them then bent his head as affirming what richard desired and resumed his usual posture of submissive attention it is well said the king and i see thy desire to oblige me in this matter and herein i must need say lies the excellent of such a servant as thou who has not speech either to debate our purpose or to require explanation of what we have determined an english serving-man in thy place had given me his dogged advice to trust the combat with some good lance of my household who from my brother longsawed downwards are all on fire to do battle in my cause and a chattering frenchman had made a thousand attempts to discover wherefore i look for a champion from the camp of the infidels but thou my silent agent canst do mine errand without questioning or comprehending it with thee to hear as to obey a bend of the body in a genuflection or the appropriate answer of the ethiopian to these observations and now to another point said the king and speaking suddenly and rapidly have you yet seen a needeth plantagant the mute looked up as in the act of being about to speak nay his lips had begun to utter a distinct negative and the abortive attempt died away in the imperfect murmurs of the dumb why why lo you there said the king that very sound of the very sound of the name of a royal maiden of beauty so surpassing as that of our lovely cousin seems to have power enough well-nigh to make the dumb speak what miracles then might her eye work upon the

Starting point is 12:04:59 such a subject. I will make the experiment friend-slave. Thou shalt see this choice beauty of our court, and do the errand of the princely Saldan. Again a joyful glance, again a genuflection, but, as he arose, the king laid his hand heavily on his soldier, and proceeded with stern gravity thus. Let me in one thing warn you, my sable envoy, even if thou shouldst us feel that the kindly influence of her, whom thou art soon to behold, should loosen the bonds of thy tongue, presently imprisoned, as the good Saldon expresses it, within the ivory walls of its castle. Beware how thou changest thy taciturn character, or speakest a word in her presence,

Starting point is 12:05:46 even if thy powers of utterance were to be miraculously restored. Believe me, that I should have thy tie extracted by its roots, and its ivory palace. That is, I presume, its range of teeth, drawn out one by one. wherefore be wise and silent still. The Numean, so soon as the king had removed his heavy grasp from his shoulder, bent his head and laid his hand on his lips in token of silent obedience. But Richard again laid his hand on him more gently and added, This behest we lay on thee as on a slave,

Starting point is 12:06:22 which thou knight and gentleman, we would require thine honour in pledge of thy silence, which is one a special condition of our present trust. the ethiopian raised his body proudly looked full at the king and laid his right hand on his heart richard then summoned his chamberlain go neville he said with this slave to the tent of our royal consort and say tis our pleasure that he have an audience a private audience of our cousin edith he is charged with the commission to her thou can show him the way also in case he requires thy guidance though thou mayest have observed it is wonderful how familiar he already seems to be with the purialus of our camp and thou too friend ethiope the king continued what thou dost doest do quickly, and return hither within the half-hour. I stand discovered, thought the seeming Nubian, as with downcast looks and folded eyes, he followed the hasty stride of Neville towards the tent of

Starting point is 12:07:25 Queen Verengaria. I stand undoubtedly discovered and unfolded to King Richard, yet I cannot perceive that his resentment is hot against me. If I understand his words, and surely it is impossible to misinterpret them, he gives me a noble chance of redeeming my honour of. upon the crest of this false marquis, whose guilt I read in his craven eye and quivering lip, when the charge was made against him. Roswell, faithfully as thou served thy master, and most dearly shall thy wrong be avenged. But what is the meaning of my present permission, to look upon her whom I had despaired ever to see again, and why, or how, can the royal Plantagent consent, that I should seize divine kinswoman,

Starting point is 12:08:10 either as the messenger of the heathen Saladin, or as the guilty exile whom he so lately expelled from his camp. His audacious avowal of the affection which his pride being the greatest enhancement of his guilt? That Richard should consent to her receiving a letter from an infidel lover by the hands of one of such disproportionate rank, are either of them circumstances equally incredible, and at the same time inconsistent with each other. but Richard, when unmoved by his heedy passions, is liberal, generous, and truly noble, and as such I will deal with him and act according to his instructions, direct or implied, seeking to know no more than may gradually unfold itself without my officious inquiry. To him who has given me so brave an opportunity to vindicate my tarnished honour,

Starting point is 12:09:02 I owe acquiescence and obedience, and, painful as it may be, the debts shall be paid. and yet, Thus the proud swelling of his heart further suggested, Cordillian, as he is called, might have measured the feelings of others by his own. I urge an address to his kinswoman, I, who never spoke word to her when I took a royal prize from her hand, when I was accounted not the lowest in feats of chivalry

Starting point is 12:09:30 among the defenders at the cross. I approach her one in a base disguise, and in a servile habit, and, alas, when my actual condition is that of a slave, with a spot of dishonour on that which was once my shield, I do this, he little knows me, yet I thank him for the opportunity which may make us all better acquainted with each other. As he arrived at this conclusion, they paused before the entrance of the Queen's Pavilion. They were, of course, admitted by the guards, and Neville, leaving the Nubian in a small apartment or antechamber, which was but too well remembered by him,

Starting point is 12:10:08 passed into that which was used as the Queen's presence chamber. He communicated his royal master's pleasure in a low and respectful tone of voice. Very different from the bluntness of Thomas DeVore, to whom Richard was everything, and the rest of the court, including Berengaria, herself, were nothing. A burst of laughter followed the communication of his errand. And what like is the Nubian slave, who comes ambassador on such an errand from the Saldan? a negro de neville is he not said a female voice easily recognized for that of berengaria a negro is he not de neville with black skin a head curled like a rams a flat nose and blubbery lips huh worthy sir henry let not your grace forget the shin bones said another voice bent outwards like the edge of a saracen scimitar rather like the bow of a cupid since it comes upon a lover's errand

Starting point is 12:11:11 said the queen gentle neville thou art ever prompt to pleasure us poor women who have so little to pass away our idle moments we must see this messenger of love turks and moors have i seen many but negro never i am created to obey your grace's commands so you will bear me out with my sovereign for doing so answered the debonair knight yet let me assure your grace you will see something different from what you expect so much the better uglier yet than our imaginations can fancy yet the chosen love-messinger of this gallant sultan gracious madam said the lady calista may i implore you have permitted the good knight to carry this messenger straight to the lady edith to whom his credentials are addressed we have already escaped hardly for such a frolic "'Escaped?' escaped,' repeated the queen scornfully. "'Yet thou mayest be right, Callista, in thy caution. Let this Nubian, as thou callest him, first do his errand to our cousin. Beside, he is mute, too, is he not?'

Starting point is 12:12:24 "'He is gracious madam,' answered the knight. "'Royal sport of these eastern ladies,' said Berengaria, attended by those before whom they may say anything, yet who can report nothing, whereas in our camp, as the prelate of St. Jews is wont to say, a bird of the air will carry the matter. Because, because, said de Neville, your grace forgets that you speak within canvas walls. The voices sunk on this observation, and, after a little whispering, the English knight again returned to the Ethiopian, and made him a sign to follow. he did so and neville conducted him to a pavilion pitched somewhat apart from that of the queen for the accommodation it seemed of the lady edith and her attendants one of her coptic maidens received the message communicated by sir henry neville and in the space of a very few minutes the nubian was ushered into edith's presence while never was left on the outside of the tent the slave who introduced him withdrew on a signal from her mistress

Starting point is 12:13:38 and it was with humiliation not of the posture only but of the very innermost soul that the unfortunate knight thus strangely disguised throw himself on one knee with looks bent on the ground and arms folded on his bosom like a criminal who expects his doom edith was clad in the same manner as when she received king richard her long transparent dark veil hanging around her like the shade of a summer night on a beautiful landscape disguising and rendering obscure the beauties which it could not hide she held in her hand a silver lamp fed with some aromatic spirit which burned with unusual brightness when edith came within a step of the kneeling and motioned a slave she held the light towards her face as if to peruse his features more attentively then turned from him and placed her lamps so as to throw the shadow of his face in profile upon the curtain which hung beside she had length spoke in a voice composed yet deeply sorrowful is it you is it indeed you brave knight of the leopard gallant sir kenneth of scotland is it indeed you thus servilely disguised thus surrounded by a hundred dangers adhering the tone of his lady's voice thus unexpectedly addressed to him and in a tone of compassion approaching to tenderness a corresponding reply rushed to the knight's lips and scarce could richard's commands and his own promised silence prevent his answering that the sight he saw the sounds he just heard were sufficient to recompense the slavery of a life and dangers which threatened that life every hour he did recollect himself however and a deep and impassioned sigh was his only reply to the high-born edith's question i see i know i have guessed right continued edith

Starting point is 12:15:44 i marked you from your first appearance near the platform in which i stood with the queen i knew too your valiant hound she is no true lady and is unworthy of the service of such a knight as thou art from whom disguises of dress or hugh could conceal a faithful servant speak then without fear to edith plantagant she knows how to grace in adversity the good knight who served honour and deeds of arms in her name when fortune befriended him still silent is it fear or shame that keeps thee so fear should be unknown to thee and for shame let it remain with those who have wronged thee the night in despair at being obliged to play the mute in an interview so interesting could only express his mortification by sighing deeply and laying his fingers upon his lips edith stepped back as if somewhat displeased what she said the asiatic mute in very deed, as well as in attire, this I looked not for, or thou mayest scorn me, perhaps, for thus boldly acknowledging, that I have heedfully observed the homage thou hast paid me. Hold no unworthy thoughts of Edith on that account. She knows well the bounds which reserve and modesty prescribed to high-born maidens,

Starting point is 12:17:05 and she knows when and how far they should give place to gratitude. To a sincere desire that it were in her power to repay services, and repair injuries arising from the devotion. which a good knight bore towards her. Why fold thy hands together and ring them with so much passion? Can it be? she added, shrinking back at the idea, that their cruelty is actually deprived thee of speech? Thou shakest thy head, be it a spell, be it obstinacy,

Starting point is 12:17:38 I question thee no further, but leave thee to do thine errand, after thine own fashion. I also can be mute. then disguised knight made an action as if at once lamenting his own condition and appreciating her displeasure while at the same time he presented to her wrapped as usual in fine silk and cloth of gold the letter of the sultan she took it surveyed it carelessly then laid it aside and bending her eyes once more on the night said in a low tone of voice not even a word to do thine errand to me he pressed both his hands to his brow as if to intimate the pain which he felt at being unable to obey her but she turned from him in anger begone she said i have spoken enough too much to one who will not waste on me a word in reply begone and say if i have wronged thee i have done penance for if i have been the unhappy means of dragging thee down from a station of honour i have in this interview forgotten my own worth and lowered my own worth and lowered my own myself in thine eyes and in my own she covered her eyes with her hands and seemed deeply agitated sir kenneth would have approached but she waved him back

Starting point is 12:18:58 stand off thou whose soul heaven hath suited to its new station aught less dull and fearful than a slavage mute had spoken a word of gratitude would but to reconcile me to my own degradation why pause you begone the disguised knight almost involuntarily looked towards the letter as an apology for protracting his stay. She snatched it up, saying in a tone of irony and contempt. I had forgotten. The dutiful slave waits in answer to his message. How's this, from the Saldan? She hastily ran over the contents, which were expressed both in Arabic and French. And when she had done, she laughed in bitter anger.

Starting point is 12:19:43 Now this passes imagination. She said, No jongler can show so deaf to transmitting. His letter domain can transform Zessions and Byzance into Doits and Mavides. But can his art convert a Christian knight, ever esteemed among the bravest of the Holy Crusade, into the dust-kissing slave of a heathen Saldan? The bearer of a pionymn's insolent proposals to a Christian maiden. Nay, forgetting the laws of honourable chivalry, as well as of religion.

Starting point is 12:20:16 But it avails not talking to the willing slave of a heathen hound. "'Tell your master, when his skirt shall have found thee a tongue, "'that which thou hast seen me do.' "'So saying she threw the Saldan's letter on the ground, "'and placed her foot upon it, "'and say to him that Edith Pontagant scorns the homage of an unchristian pagan. "'With these words she was about to shoot from the night, "'when, kneeling at her feet in bitter agony,

Starting point is 12:20:45 "'he ventured to lay his hand upon her robe and oppose her departure. "'Hard is thou not what I said, dull slave?' she said, turning short round on him, and speaking with emphasis. "'Tell the heathen soldier, thy master, that I scorn his suit as much as I despise the prostration "'of a worthless renegade to religion and chivalry, to God and to his lady.' So saying she burst from him, tore her garment from his grasp, and left the tent. The voice of Neville at the same time summoned him from without. exhausted and stupefied by the distress he had undergone during this interview from which he could only have extracted himself by breach of the engagement which he had formed with king richard the unfortunate knight staggered rather than walked after the english baron till they reached the royal pavilion before which a party of horsemen had just as mounted there were light in motion within the tent and when neville entered with his disguised attendant they found the king with several of his

Starting point is 12:21:51 nobility, engaged in welcoming those who are newly arrived. End of Chapter 25. Chapter 26, The Talisman. This is a Librevox recording, while Librevox recordings are in the public domain. For more information ought to volunteer, please visit Librivox.org. Recording by Lizzie Driver The Talisman by Sir Walter Scott. Chapter 26

Starting point is 12:22:23 The tears I shed must ever fall. i weep not for an absent swain for times may happier hours recall and parted lovers meet again i weep not for the silent dead their pains are past their sorrows o'er and those that loved their steps must tread when death shall join to part no more but worse than absence worse than death she wept her lover's solid frame and fired with all the pride of birth she wept as soldiers injured name the frank and bold voice of richard was heard in joyous gratulation thomas devour stout tom of the gills by the head of king henry thou art welcome to me as ever was flask of wine to a jolly i should scarce have known how to order my battle array unless i had thy bulky form in mine eyes as a landmark to form my ranks upon we shall have blows anon thomas if the saints be gracious to us and had we fought in thine absence i would have looked to hear of thy being found hanging upon upon an elder tree. I should have borne my disappointment with more Christian patience, I trust, said Thomas DeVore, then to have died the death of an apostle. But I thank your grace for my welcome,

Starting point is 12:23:44 which is the more generous, as it respects a banquet or blows, of which, saving your pleasure, you were ever too apt to engross the larger share. But here have I brought one to whom your grace will, I know, give a yet warmer welcome. The person who now stepped forward to make obeisance to Richard was a young man of low stature and slight form. His dress was as modest as his figure was unimpressive, but he bore on his bonnet a gold buckle. With a gem, the lustre of which could only be rivaled by the brilliancy of the eye which the bonnet shaded. It was the only striking feature in his countenance. But when once noticed, it ever made a strong impression on the spectator.

Starting point is 12:24:29 about his neck there hung in a scarf sky-blue silk a rest as it was called that is the key with which a harp is tuned and which was of solid gold this personage would have kneeled reverently to richard but the monarch raised him in joyful haste pressed him to his bosom warmly and kissed him on either side of the face blundelde and nelsie he exclaimed joyfully welcome from cyprus my king of minstrels welcome to the king of england who rates not his own dignity more highly than he does thine. I have been sick, man, and, by my soul, I believe it was for lack of thee. For, were I half way to the gate of heaven, methinks thy strains could call me back. And what news, my gentle master, from the land of the lyre? Anything fresh from the trovers of Provence? Anything from the minstrels of merry Normandy? Above all, has thou thyself been busy? But I need not ask thee, thou canest not be idle if thou wouldest. Thy noble are like a fire burning within, and compel thee to pour thyself out in music and song.

Starting point is 12:25:40 Something I have learned, and something I have done, noble king. Answer the celebrated Blondell, were the retiring modesty, which all Richard's enthusiastic admiration of his skill had been unable to banish. We will hear thee, man, we will hear thee instantly, said the king. Then, touching Blondell's shoulder kindly, he added, That is, if thou art not fatigued with thy journey, for I would soon arrived my best horse to death and injure a note in thy voice. My voice is, as ever, at the service of my royal patron, said Blondell.

Starting point is 12:26:19 But Your Majesty, he added, looking at some papers on the table, seems more importantly engaged, and the hour waxes late. Not a wit, man, not a wit, my dearest Blondell. I did a bit sketch an array of battle against the Saracens. A thing of a moment. Almost as soon done as the routing of them. "'Me-thinks, however,' said Thomas Devor, "'it were not unfit to inquire what soldiers your grace hath to array.

Starting point is 12:26:48 "'I bring reports on that subject from Ascalon.' "'Thou art a mule, Thomas,' said the king. "'The very mule for dullness and obstincy. "'Come, nobles, a haul, a hall, ranger around him. "'Give Blondell the tabaree. "'Where is his harp-bearer?' "'Or, soft, lent in my harp, his own may be damaged by the journey.' i would your grace take my report said thomas devour i have ridden far and have more lice to my bed than to have my ears tickled

Starting point is 12:27:21 thy ears tickled said the king that must be with a woodcock's feather and not with sweet sounds hark thee thomas do thine ears know the singing of blondel from the braying of an ass in faith my liege replied thomas i cannot well say but setting blundell out of the question who is a born gentleman and doubtless of high acquirements i shall never for the sake of your grace's question look on a minstrel but i shall think upon an ass and might not your manners said richard have accepted me who am a gentle born as well as blundell and like him a gild brother of the joyous science your grace should remember said devour smiling that tis useless asking for manners from a mule most truly spoken said the king and an ill-conditioned animal thou art but come here the master mule and be unloaded that thou mayest get thee to thy litter without any music being wasted upon thee meantime do thou good brother of salisbury go to our consort's tent and tell her that blondel has arrived with his budget fraught with the newest minstrelsy but to come hither instantly and do thou escort her and see that our cousin edith plantagant remain not behind his eye then rested for a moment on the nubian with that expression of doubtful meaning which his countenance usually displayed when he looked at him ha our silent and secret messenger returned stand-up slave behind the back of de neville and thou shalt hear presently sounds which will make thee bless god that he afflicted thee rather with dumbness than deafness so saying he turned from the rest of the company towards devour and plunged instantly into the military details which that baron laid before him about the time that the lord of gillsland had finished his audience a messenger announced that the queen and her attendants were approaching the royal tent

Starting point is 12:29:32 a flask of wine ho said the king of old king isaac's lonsaved cyprus which we won when we stormed from a goster fill to the stout lord of gillsland gentles a more careful and more careful and fuller and more careful and fuller faithful servant never had any prince. I am glad, said Thomas DeVore, that your grace finds the mule a useful slave, though his voice be less musical than horsehair or wire. What, thou canst not yet digest that quip of the mule? Said Richard. What sit down with a brimming flag on man?

Starting point is 12:30:10 Thou wilt choke upon it. Why so? Well pulled. And now I will tell thee, thou art a soldier as well as I. and we must brook each other's jests in the hall as each other's blows in the attorney and love each other the harder we hit by my faith if thou didst not hit me as hard as i did thee in our late encounter thou gavest all thy wit to the thrust but here lies the difference between thee and blondell thou art but my comrade i might say my pupil in the art of war blondell is my master in the science of minstrelsy and music to thee i permit the freedom of intercy to hear my must do reverence as to my superior in his art come man be not peevish but remain in here our glee to see your majesty in such a cheerful mood said the lord of gilsland by my faith i could remain till blondel had achieved the great romance of king arthur which lasts for three days we will not tax your patience so deeply said the king but see yonder glare of torches without shows that our consort approaches away to receive a man and win thyself grace in the brightest eyes of christiandom nay never stopped with just thy cloak see thou hast let neville come between the wind and the sails of thy galley he was never before me in the field of battle said devourke's not greatly pleased to see himself anticipated by the more active service of the chamberlain

Starting point is 12:31:45 no neither he or any one went before thee there my good top of the gills said the king unless it was ourself now and then ay my liege said devour and let us do justice to the unfortunate the unhappy knight of the leopard had been before me too at a season for look you he weighs less on horseback and so hush said the king interrupting him in a preemptory tone not a word of him and instantly stepped forward to greet his royal consort and when he had done so he presented to her blondel as king of minstrelsy and his master in the gay science berengaria who well knew that her royal husband's passion for poetry and music almost equalled his appetite for warlike fame and that blondel was his especial favorite took anxious care to receive him with all the flattering distinctions due to one whom the king delighted to honor yet it was evident that though blondel made suitable returns to the compliments showered on him something too abundantly by the royal beauty he owned with deeper reverence and more humble gratitude the simple and grateful welcome of Edith, whose kindly greeting appeared to him, perhaps, sincere in proportion to his brevity and simplicity.

Starting point is 12:33:18 Both the Queen and her royal husband were aware of this distinction, and Richard, seeing his consort somewhat piqued at the preference assigned to his cousin, by which perhaps he himself did not feel much gratified, said in the hearing of both, We minstrels, Beringeria, as thou may as see by the bearing of a person, our minstrel bondel, pay more reverence to a severe judge like our kinswoman than to a kindly partial friend like thyself, who is willing to take our worth upon trust. Edith was moved by the sarcasm of her royal kinsman, and hesitated not to reply that. To be a harsh and severe judge

Starting point is 12:33:57 was not an attribute proper to her alone of all the plantagents. She had, perhaps said more, having some touch of the temper of that house, which, derrude. their name and cognizance from the lowly broom, Planta genusar, assumed as an emblem of humility, were perhaps one of the proudest families that ever ruled in England. But her eye, when kindling her reply, suddenly caught those of the Nubian, although he endeavoured to conceal himself behind the nobles who were present.

Starting point is 12:34:30 And she sunk upon a seat, turning so pale that Queen Berengaria deemed herself obliged to call for water in essences, and to go through the other ceremonies appropriate to a lady swoon. Richard, who better estimated Edith's strength of mind, called a blonde girl to assume his seat and commence his lay, declaring that minstrelsy was worth every other recipe to recall a plantagen to life. Sing us, he said, that song of the bloody vest,

Starting point is 12:35:03 of which thou didst formally give me the argument ere I left Cyprus. Thou must be perfect in it by this time, as I yeomen say, thy bow is broken. The anxious eye of the minstrel, however, dwelt on Edith, and it was naughtily observed her return in colour, that he obeyed the repeated commands of the king. Then, accompanying his voice with the harp, so as to grace but yet not round, the sense of what he sung.

Starting point is 12:35:32 He chanted in a sort of recitative, one of those ancient adventures of love and knighthood, which will want of yore to win the public attention. So soon as he began to prelude, the insignificance of his personal appearance seemed to disappear, and his countenance glowed with energy and inspiration. His full, mellow, manly voice, so absolutely under command of the purest taste, thrilled on every ear and to every heart. Richard rejoices after victory, called out the appropriate summons for silence.

Starting point is 12:36:08 Listen, lords, in Bower and Hall. while with the zeal of a patron at once in a pupil he arranged the circle around and hushed them into silence and he himself set down with an air of expectation and interest not altogether unmixed with the gravity of the professed critic the courtiers turned their eyes on the king that they might be ready to trace and imitate the emotions his features should express and thomas devour yawned tremendously as one who submitted unwillingly to a wearisome penance the song of blondel was of course in the norman language but the verses which follow express its meaning and its manner the bloody vest twas near the fair city of benivant when the sun was setting on bow and bent and knights were preparing in bower and tent on the eve of the baptist tournament when in lincoln green a stripling gent whilst seeming a page by a princess scent wandered the camp and still as he went inquired for the englishman thomas far have he fared and farther must fare till he finds his pavilion not stately nor rare till he finds his pavilion not stately nor rare little save iron and steel was there and as lacking the coin to pay armorer's care with his sinewy arms to the shoulders bare the good knight with hammer and filed at repair the mail that to-morrow must see him wear for the honor of st john and his lady fair thus speaks my lady the page said he and the knight bent lowly both head and knee she is benevolent's princess so high in degree and thou art as lowly as knight may well be

Starting point is 12:38:04 he that would climb so lofty a tree or spring such a golfer as divides her from thee must dare some high deed by which all men may see his ambition is backed by his high chivalry therefore thou speak's my lady the fair page he said and the knight lowly lounded with hand and with head fling aside the good armour in which thou art clad and don this weed of her night-gear instead for a hubrick of steel a curtail of thread and charged of the tired in the tournament dread and fightest thy want is where most blood is shed and bring honour away or remain with the dead untroubled in his look and untroubled in his breast the knight the wheat hath taken and reverently have kissed now blessed be the moment the messenger be blessed much honour do i hold me in my lady's high behest and say unto my lady in this dear knight wedded dress to the best iron champion i will not fail my crest but if i live and bear me well tis her turn to take the test here gentles ends the formest fright of the lay of the bloody vest thou hast changed the measure upon us unawares in that last couplet my blondel said the king most true my lord said blondell i rendered the verses from the italian of an old harper whom i met in cyprus and not having had time either to translate it accurately or committed to memory i am fain to supply gaps in the music and the verse as i can upon the spur of the moment as you see boar's men to quick-set fence with a faggot nay on my faith said the king i like these rustling rolling alexandrians we have they come more twangingly off to the music than that briefer measure both are licensed as is well known to your grace answered blondell they are so blundell said richard yet methinks a scene where there is likely to be fighting will go best on in these same thundering alexandrines

Starting point is 12:40:16 which sound like the charge of cavalry while the other measure is but like the sidelong amble of a lady's palfrey it shall be as your grace pleases replied blundell who began again to bring prelude. Nay, first cherish thy fancy with a cup of fiery chaos wine, said the king, and hark thee, I would have thee fling away that newfangled restriction of thine, of terminating inaccurate and similar rhymes. They are a constraint on thy flow of fancy, and make thee resemble a man dancing in fetters. The fetters are easily flung off at last, said Blondell, again sweeping his fingers over the strings, as one who would rather have played than listen to criticism. But why put them on, man?

Starting point is 12:41:07 continued the king. Wherefore thrust thy genius into iron bracelets? I marvel how you got forward at all. I am sure I should not have been able to compose a stanza in yonder hampered measure. Blondell looked down and busied himself with the strings of his harp, to hide an involuntary smile which crept over his features. But it escaped not Richard's observation. By my faith, their laugh is detain me, Blondon.

Starting point is 12:41:34 he said and in good truth every man deserves it who presumes to play the master when he should be the pupil but we kings get bad habits of self-opinion come on with thy lay dearest blundel on after thine own fashion better than aught that we can suggest though we must need to be talking londell resumed the lay but as extemporaneous composition was familiar to him he failed not to comply with the king's hints and was perhaps not displeased to show with how much ease he could new model a poem even while in the act of recitation the bloody vest fight second the baptist fair morrow beheld gallant feats there was winning of honor and losing of seats there was hewing with falchions and splinter and shrewing with falchions and splinter of stays, the victors won glory, the vanquished one graves. Oh, many a knight there fought bravely and well, yet one was accounted his peers to excel, and was he whose sole armor on body and breast seemed the weed of a damsel woven when bound for her rest. There were some dealt him wounds that were bloody and sore, but others respected his plight and for war. It is some oath of honor, they said, and I

Starting point is 12:42:55 trow twere unnightly to slay him achieving his vow then the prince for his sake bade the tournament cease he flung down his warder the trumpet sun peace and the judges declare and competitors yield that the knight of the night-gear was first in the field the feast it were nigh and the mass it was nigher when before the fair princess lo lucied a squire and delivered a garment unseemly to view with sword-cut and spear-thrust and spear-thrust or, all hacked and pierced through. All rent and all tattered, all clotted with blood, with foam of the horses, with dust and with mud. Not the point of that lady's small finger, I wean, could have rested on spot, was unsullied and clean. This token, my master, Sir Thomas A Kent,

Starting point is 12:43:44 restored to the princes of Fair Benevent. He that climbs the tall tree has won right to the fruit. He that leaps the wide gulf should prevail in his suit. through life's utmost peril the prize have i won and now must the faith of my mistress be shown for she who prompts knights on such danger to run must avouch his true service in front of the sun i restore says my master the garment i've worn an acclaim of the princess to don it in turn for its stains and its rents she should prize it the more since by shame tis unsullied though crimsoned with gore then deep blushed the princess yet kissed she impressed the blood-spotted robes to her lips into breast go tell my true knight church and chamber shall show if i value the blood on this garment or no and when it was time for the nobles to pass in solemn procession to minister en masse the first walked the princess in purple and pole but the blood besmeared night-robes she wore over all and eke in the hall where they all sat to dine when she knelt to her father and proffered the wine over all her rich robes and statue she wore that whimple unseemly bedabbled with gore

Starting point is 12:45:05 then lord whispered ladies as well you may think and ladies replied would nod titter and wink and the prince who in anger and shamed looked down turned at length to his daughter and spoke with a frown now since thou hast published thy folly and guilt and atone with thy hand for the blood thou hastil'd thou haste'n't yet sore for your boldness you both will repent when you wander as exiles from fair ben event then outspokes doth Thomas in hall where he stood exhausted and feeble but dauntless of mood the blood that i lost for this daughter of thine i poured forth as freely as flask gives its wine and if for my sake she brooks penance and blame do not doubt i would save her from sufferings and if for my sake she brook's penance and blame do not doubt i will save her from suffering and shame. And light will she wreck of thy princesterman rent. When I hail her in England at the Countess of Kent. A murmur of applause ran through the assembly, following the example of Richard himself, who loaded with praises his favourite minstrel, and ended by presenting him with a ring of considerable value. The Queen hastened to distinguish the favourite by a rich bracelet, and many of the nobles who were present followed the royal example.

Starting point is 12:46:20 "'Is our cousin Edith?' said the king. "'Become insensible to the sound of the harp she once loved.' "'She thanks Blondell for his lay,' replied Edith, "'but doubly the kindness of the kinswoman who suggested it.' "'Thou art angry, cousin,' said the king, "'angry because thou hast heard of a woman more wayward than thyself. "'But you escape me not. "'I will walk a space homeward with you towards the Queen's Pavilion.

Starting point is 12:46:49 "'We must have conference together.' their ear this night has waned into morning. The queen and her attendants were now on foot, and the other guests withdrew from a royal tent. A train with blazing torches, and an escort of archers, awaited Beringaria without the pavilion, and she was soon on her way homeward. Richard, as he had proposed, walked beside his kinswoman,

Starting point is 12:47:13 and compelled her to accept of his arm as her support, so that they could speak to each other without being overheard. what answer then am i to return to the noble sultan said richard the kings and princes are falling from me edith this new quall have alienated them once more i would do something for the holy sepulchre by composition if not by victory and the chance of my doing this depends alas on the caprice of a woman i would lay my single spear in the rest against ten of the best lances in christiandom rather than argue with a willful wench who knows not what is for our own good what answer cause am i to return to the sultan it must be decisive tell him said edith that the poorest of plantagents will rather wed with misery than with misbelief shall i say with slavery edith said the king methinks that is nearer thy thoughts there is no room said edith for the suspicion you so grossly insinuate slavery of the body might have been pitied but that of the soul is only to be despised shame to thee king of merry england thou hastened both the limbs and the spirit of a knight once scarcely is famed in thyself should i not prevent my kinswoman from drinking poison by sullying the vessel which contained it if i saw no other means of disgusting her with the fatal liqueur replied the king it is thyself answered edith that would press me to drink poison because it is proffered in a golden chalice edith said richard

Starting point is 12:48:56 I cannot force thy resolution, but beware you shut not the door which heaven opens. The hermit of Ngadi, he who hopes and counts as regarded as a prophet, have read in the stars that thy marriage shall reconcile me with a powerful enemy, and that thy husband shall be Christian, leaving thus the fairest ground to hope that the conversion of the Saldan and the bringing in of the sons of Ishmael to the pale of the church will be the consequence of thy wedding with Saladin. Come, thou must make some sacrifice rather than mass,

Starting point is 12:49:26 be prospects men may sacrifice rams and goats said edith but not honor and conscience i have heard that it was the dishonour of a christian maiden who brought the saracens into spain the shame of another is no likely mode of expelling them from palestine does thou call it shame to become an empress said the king i call it shame and dishonour to profane a christian sacrament by entering into it with an infidel whom it cannot bind and I call it foul dishonour the Thai, the descendant of a Christian princess, should become of free will, the head of a harem of heathen concubines. Well, King's woman, said the King after a pause, I must not quarrel with thee, though I think thy dependent condition might have dictated more compliance. My liege, replied Edith, your grace hath worthily succeeded to all the wealth and dignity

Starting point is 12:50:26 and dominion of the House of Plantagint. "'Do not, therefore, begrudge your poor kinswoman, some share of their pride.' "'By my faith, wench,' replied the king, "'thou hast unhorsed me with that very word, so we will kiss and be friends. "'I will presently despatch thy answer to Saladin. "'But, after all, because, were it not better to suspend your answer till you have seen him? "'Men say he is preeminently handsome.' "'There is no chance of our meeting, my lord,' said Edith.

Starting point is 12:50:56 by St. George, there is next to a certainty of it, said the King. For Saladin would doubtless afford us a free field for the doing of this new battle of the standard, and will witness it himself. Berengaria is wild to behold it also, and I dare be sworn not a feather of you, her companions and attendants, or remained behind. Least of all thou thyself, there, cus. But come, we have reached the pavilion and must part. Not in unkindness, though.

Starting point is 12:51:26 oh nay thou must seal it with thy lip as well as thy hand sweet edith it is my right as the sovereign to kiss my pretty vassals he embraced her respectfully and affectionately and returned for the moonlit camp humming to himself such snatches of blondel's lay as he could recollect on his arrival he lost no time in making up his despatches for saladin and delivered them to the nubian with a charge to set out by peep of day on his return to the sultan End of Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Part 1 of the Talisman This is a Libravox recording All Libravox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer Please visit Libravox.org

Starting point is 12:52:17 Recording by Lizzie Driver The Talisman by Sir Walter Scott Chapter 27 Part 1 We heard the Tec beer So these Arabs call their shouts of onset when, with loud acclaim, they challenge heaven to give them victory. Siege of Damascus On the subsequent morning, Richard was invited to a conference by Philip of France,

Starting point is 12:52:44 in which the latter, with many expressions of his high esteem for his brother of England, communicated to him in terms extremely courteous, but too explicit to be misunderstood, his positive intention to return to Europe, and to the cares of his kingdom. as entirely despairing of future success in their undertaking, with their diminished forces and civil discords. Richard remonstranted, but in vain, and when the conference ended, he received without surprise a manifesto from the Duke of Austria, and several other princes, announcing a resolution similar to that of Philip, and, in no modified terms, a signing, for their defection from the cause

Starting point is 12:53:26 of the cross, the inordinate ambition and arbitrary domination of Richard of England. All hopes of continuing the war with any prospect of ultimate success were now abandoned, and Richard, while he shed bitter tears of his disappointed hopes of glory, was little consoled by the recollection that the failure was in some degree to be imputed to the advantages which he had given his enemies by his own hasty and imprudent temper. "'They had not dared to have deserted my father thus,' he said to Devor, in the bitterness of his resentment. "'No sland as they could have uttered against so wise a king would have been believed in Christendom, whereas, for that I am, I have not only afforded them a pretext for deserting me,

Starting point is 12:54:13 but even a colour for casting all the blame of the rupture upon my unhappy foibles.' These thoughts were so deeply galling to the king, the DeVorke's was rejoiced when the arrival of an ambassador from Saladin turned his reflection, into a different channel. This new envoy was an emir much respected by the Saldan, whose name was Abdullah El Hadgi. He derived his descent

Starting point is 12:54:39 from the family of the prophet, and the race or tribe of Hashim, in witness of which genealogy he wore a green turban of large dimensions. He had also three times performed the journey to Mecca, from which he had derived his epithet of El Haj, or the pilgrim.

Starting point is 12:54:59 Notwithstanding these various pretensions to sanctity, Abdullah was, for an Arab, a boon companion, who enjoyed a merry table and laid aside his gravity so far as to coiff a blithe flagon, when secrecy ensured him against scandal. He was likewise a statesman, whose abilities had been used by Saladin in various negotiations with the Christian princes, and particularly with Richard, to whom El Hajj was personally known and accepted. animated by the cheerful acquiescence with which the envoy of Saladin afforded a fair field for the combat,

Starting point is 12:55:37 a safe conduct for all who might choose to witness it, and offered his own person as a guarantee for his fidelity. Richard soon forgot his disappointed hopes, and the approaching dissolution of the Christian League, in the interesting discussion preceding a combat in the lists. The station called the Diamond of the Desert was assigned for the place of conflict, as being nearly at an equal distance between sir christian and saracen camps it was agree that conrad of montserrat the defendant with his godfathers the archduke of austria and the grand master of the templars should appear there on the day fixed with the combat with a hundred armed followers and no more that richard of england and his brother salsbury whose support of the accusation should attend with the same number to protect his champion and that the sultan should attend with the same number to protect his champion and that the sultan should bring with him a guard of five hundred chosen followers, a band considered as not more than equal to the two hundred Christian lances. Such persons of consideration, as either party chose to invite to witness

Starting point is 12:56:42 the contest, were to wear no other weapon than their swords, and to come without defensive armour. The soldier undertook the preparation of the lists, and to provide accommodations and refreshments of every kind, for all who were to assist at the solemnity. And his letters explained, and his letters expressed with much courtesy the pleasure which he anticipated in the prospect of a personal and peaceful meeting with the melach rick and his anxious desire to render his reception as agreeable as possible all preliminaries being arranged and communicated to the defendant and his godfathers abdulah the hodge was admitted to a more private interview where he heard with delight the strains of blondel having first carefully put his green turban out of sight and assumed a greek cap in its stead He requited the Norman minstrel's music with the drinking song from the Persian, and quaffed a hearty flagon of cypress wine, to show that his practice matched his principles. On the next day, grave and sober as the water-drinker, Mergilp, he bent his brow to the ground before Saladin's footstool,

Starting point is 12:57:55 and rent to the soldier an account of his embassy. On the day before that appointed for the combat, Conrad and his friends set off by daybreak to repair to the place assigned, and Richard left the camp at the same hour and for the same purpose. But, as had been agreed upon, he took his journey by a different route, a precaution which had been judged necessary, to prevent the possibility of a quarrel betwixt their armed attendants. The good king himself was in no humour for quarrelling with anyone. Nothing could have added to his pleasurable anticipations of a desperate and bloody combat in the lists, except his being in his own royal person, one of the combatants,

Starting point is 12:58:39 and he was half in charity again even with Conrad de Montserrat, lightly armed, richly dressed, and gay as a bridegroom on the eve of his nuptials. Richard caracled along by the side of Queen Berengaria's litter, pointing out to her the various scenes through which they passed, and cheering with tail and song the bosom of the inhospitable wilderness. the former route of the Queen's pilgrimage to Ingadi that been on the other side of the chain of mountains,

Starting point is 12:59:11 so that the ladies were strangers to the scenery of the desert. And though Berengaria knew her husband's disposition too well not to endeavour to seem interested in what he was pleased either to say or to sing, she could not help indulging some female fears when she found herself in the howling wilderness with so small an escort, which seemed almost like a moving speck on the bosom of the plain.

Starting point is 12:59:34 and knew at the same time they were not so distant from the camp of saladin but what they might be in a moment surprised and swept off by an overpowering host in his fiery-footed cavalry should the pagan be faithless enough to embrace an opportunity thus tempting but when she hinted these suspicions to richard he repelled them with displeasure and disdain it were worse than ingratitude he said to doubt the good faith of the generous soldan yet the same doubts and fears re-occurred more than once not to the timid mind of the queen alone but to the firmer and more candid soul of edith who had no such confidence in the faith of the moslem as to render her perfectly at ease when so much in their power and her surprise had been far less than her terror if the desert around had suddenly resounded with the shout of a la whole, and a band of Arab cavalry had pounced on them like vultures on their prey. Nor were these suspicions lessened when, as the evening approached, they were aware of a single Arab horseman, distinguished by his turban and a long lance, hovering on the edge of a small eminence like a hawk poised in the air, and who instantly, on the appearance of the royal retinue,

Starting point is 13:00:56 darted off with the speed of the same bird when it shoots down the wind and disappears from the horizon. We must be near the station, said King Richard, and Jondar Cavalier is one of Saladin's outposts. We think I hear the noise of the Moorish-horns and symbols. Get you into order, my hearts, and form yourselves around the ladies, soldier-like, and firmly. As he spoke, each knight, squire and archer hastily closed in upon his appointed ground, and they proceeded in the most compact order, which made their numbers appear still smaller. and, to say the truth, though there might be no fear, there was anxiety as well as curiosity, in the attention with which they listened to the wild bursts of Moorish music,

Starting point is 13:01:45 which came ever and denon more distinctly, from the quarter in which the Arab horsemen had been seen to disappear. De Vork spoke in a whisper to the king, Were it not well, my liege, to send a page to the top of that sandbank, or would it stand with your pleasure that I prick forward? methinks by all yonder clash and clang if there be no more than five hundred men beyond the sandshills half of the sultan's retinue must be drummers and cymbal tossers shall i spur on the baron had checked his horse with the bit and was just about to strike him with the spurs when the king exclaimed not for the world such a caution would express suspicion and could do little to prevent surprise which however i apprehended not they advanced accordingly in close and firm order till they surmounted till they surmounted the line of low sand-hills and came in sight of the appointed station when a splendid but at the same time a startling spectacle awaited them the diamond of the desert so lately a solitary fountain

Starting point is 13:02:53 distinguished only amid the waste by solitary groups of palm-trees was now the centre of an encampment the embroidered flags and gilded ornaments of which glittered far and wide and reflected a thousand rich tints against the setting sun the coverings of the large pavilions were of the gayest colors scarlet bright yellow pale blue and other gaudy and gleaming hues and the tops of their pillars or tent poles were decorated with golden pomegranates and small silken flags but besides these distinguished pavilions there was what thomas devour considered as a pretentious number of the ordinary black tents of the arabs being sufficient as he conceived to accommodate according to the eastern fashion a host of five thousand men a number of arabs and kurds fully corresponding to the extent of the encampment were hastily assembling each leading his horse in his hand and their master was accompanied by an astonishing clamour of their noisy instruments of martial music, by which, in all ages, the warfare of the Arabs has been animated. They soon formed a deep and confused mass, dismounted cavalry in front of their encampment, when, at the signal of a shrill cry, which arose high over the clangor of the music, each cavalier sprung to his saddle.

Starting point is 13:04:20 A cloud of dust arising at the moment of this manoeuvre, heard from Richard and his attendants the camp, the palm trees, and the distant ridge of mountains, as well as the troops sudden movement had raised the cloud, and, descending high over the heels, formed itself into the fantastic forms of writhed pillars, domes and marionettes. Another shrill yell was heard from the bosom of this cloudy tabernacle. It was a signal for the cavalry to advance, which they did at full gallop, disposing themselves as they came forward, so as to come in at once in the foot, flanks, and rear of Richard's little bodyguard, who were thus surrounded, and almost choked by the dense clouds of dust enveloping them on each side, through which was seen alternately

Starting point is 13:05:07 and lost, the grim forms and wild faces of the Saracens, brandishing and tossing their lances in every possible direction, with the wilders' cries and halloos, and frequently only reining up their horses when within a spear's length of the Christians, while those in the rear discharged over the heads of both parties, thick volleys of arrows. One of these struck the litter in which the queen was seated, who loudly screamed, and the red spot was on Richard's brow in an instant. "'Ha, St. George!' he exclaimed. "'We must take some order with this infidel scum.' But Edith, whose litter was nearer, thrust a head out, and with her hand holding one of the shafts, exclaimed, "'Royle Richard, beware what you do. See, these arrows are headless.'

Starting point is 13:06:07 "'Noble, sensible wench!' exclaimed Richard. by heaven thou shamest all by thy readiness of thought and i be not moved my english hearts he exclaimed to his followers their arrows have no heads and their spears too lack the steel points it is but a wild welcome after their savage fashion though doubtless they would rejoice to see as daunted or disturbed move onward slow and steady the little phalanx moved forward accordingly accompanied on all side by the arabs with the shrillest and most piercing cries the bowmen meanwhile displayed their agility by shooting as near the crests of the christians as was possible without actually hitting them while the lancers charged each other with such rude blows of their blunt weapons that more than one of them lost his saddle and well-nigh his life in this rough sport all this though designed to express welcome had rather a doubtful appearance in the eyes of the europeans as he advanced nearly half-way towards the camp king richard in his suit forming as it were the nucleus round which this tumultuous body of horsemen howled whooped skirmished and galloped creating a scene of indescribable confusion another shrill cry was heard in which all these irregulars who were on the front and upon the flanks of the little body of europeans wheeled off and forming themselves into a long and deep column followed with comparative order and silence in the rear of richard's troops the dust began now to dissipate in their front when they were advanced to meet them through that cloudy veil a body of cavalry of a different and more regular description

Starting point is 13:07:57 completely armed with offensive and defensive weapons and you might well have served as a bodyguard to the proudest of eastern monarchs this splendid troop consisted of five hundred men and each horse which it contained was worth an earl's ransom the riders were georgian and cesarean slays in the very prime of life their helmets and huberks were formed of steel rings so bright that they shone like silver their vestiges were of the gayest colours and some of cloth of gold or silver and some of cloth of gold or silver Their sashes were twisted with silk and gold, their rich turbans were plumed and jewelled, and their sabers and poignards of damaskan steel were adorned with gold and gems on hilt and scabbard. This splendid array advanced to the sound of military music, and when they met the Christian body, they opened their files to the right and left, and let them enter between their ranks. Richard now assumed the foremost place in his troop, aware that Saladin himself was approaching.

Starting point is 13:09:03 nor was it long when in the centre of his bodyguard surrounded by his domestic officers and those hideous negroes who guard the eastern harem and whose misshapen forms were rendered yet more frightful by the richness of their attire came the sultan with the look and manners of one whose brown nature had written this is a king in a snow-white turban vest and wide eastern trousers wearing a sash of scarlet silk without any other ornament seled might have seemed to the plainest dressed man in his own guard but closer inspection discerned in his turban that in steamable gem which was called to other poets the sea of light the diamond on which his signet was engraved and which he wore in a ring was probably worth all the jewels of the english crown and a sapphire which terminated the hilt of his kangir was not of a much inferior value it should be added that to protect himself from the dust which in the vicinity of the dead sea resembles the finest ashes or perhaps out of oriental pride the sultan wore a sort of veil attached to his turban which partly obscured the view of his noble features he rode a milk-white arabian which bore him as if conscious and proud of his noble bird there was no need of further introduction. The two heroic monarchs, for such they both were, threw themselves at once from horseback, and the troops halting and the music suddenly ceasing,

Starting point is 13:10:40 they advanced to meet each other in profane silence. And, after a courteous inclination on either side, they embraced as brethren and equals. The pomp and display upon both sides attracted no further notice. No one saw aught save rich, and salladine and they too beheld nothing but each other the looks with which richard surveyed saladin were however more intently curious than those which the sultan fixed upon him and the saldon also was the first to break silence the melak brick is welcome to saladin as water to the desert i trust he hath no distrust of this numerous array except in the armed slaves of my household those who surround you with eyes of wonder and welcome are even with the humblest of them the privileged nobles of my thousand tribes for who that could claim a title to be present would remain at home when such a prince was to be seen as richard

Starting point is 13:11:41 with the terrors of whose name even on the sands of yemen the nurse stills her child and the free arabs subdue his restive steed and these are all nobles of arabi said richon looking around on wild forms with their persons covered with hikes their countenance was with the sunbeams, their teeth as white as ivory, their black eyes glancing with fierce and preternatural luster from under the shade of their turbans, and their dress being in general simple even to meanness. They claim such rank, said Saladin, but, though numerous, they are within the conditions of the treaty, and bear no arms but the sabre. Even the iron of their lances is left behind. "'I fear,' muttered to Vorks in English. they have left them where they can be soon found a most flourishing house appears i confess and would find westminster hall something too narrow for them hushed of orcs said richard i command thee noble seledin he said suspicion and thou cannot exist on the same ground seest thou pointing to the litters i too have brought some champions with me though armed perhaps in breach of agreement

Starting point is 13:13:00 for bright eyes and fair features are weapons which can't be left behind the saladin turning to the litters made an obeisance as lowly as if looking towards mecca and kissed the sand in token of respect nay said richard they will not fear a close encounter brother wilt thou not ride towards their litters and their curtains will be presently withdrawn that may allah prohibit said saladin since not an arab looks on who would not think it shame to see the noble ladies to be seen with their faces uncovered thou shalt see them then in private brother answered richard to what purpose answered saladin mournfully thy last letter was to the hopes which i had entertained like water to fire and wherefore should i again light a flame which may indeed consume but cannot cheer me but will not my brother pass to the tent which his servant hath prepared for him my principal black slave hath taken order for the reception of the princesses the officers of my household will attend your followers and ourselves will be the chamberlain of the royal richard end of chapter twenty seven part one chapter twenty seven part two of the talisman this is a librivox recording while the rox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit librivox dot org recording by lizzie driver the talisman by sir walter scott chapter twenty seven part two he led the way accordingly to a splendid pavilion where was everything that royal luxury could devise to vorks who was in attendance then removed the chapie or long riding-clogue which richard wore and he stood before celadine in the close dress which showed to advantage the strength and symmetry of his person

Starting point is 13:15:05 while it bore a strong contrast to the flowing robes which disguised the thin frame of the eastern monarch it was richard's two-handed sword that chiefly attracted the attention of the saracen a broad straight blade the seemingly unwieldy length of which extended well nigh from the shoulder to the heel of the wearer had i not said saladin seen this brand flaming in the front of battle like that of asrael i had scarce to believe that human arm could wield it might i request to see the melachrhic strike one blow with it in peace and in pure trial of strength willingly noble saladin answered richard and looking around for something wherein to exercise his strength he saw a steel mace held by one of the attendants the handle being of the same metal and about an inch and a half in diameter this he placed on a block of wood the anxiety of devorks for his master's honour led him to whisper in english for the blessed virgin's sake beware what you attempt my liege your full strength is not as yet returned give no triumph to the infidel peace fool said richard standing firm on his ground and casting a fierce glance around thinkest thou that i can fail in his presence the glittering broadsword wielded by both his hands rose aloft of the king's left shoulder circled round his head descended by both his hands rose aloft of the king's left shoulder circled round his head descending with the sway of some terrific engine and the bar of iron rolled on the ground in two pieces as the woodsman would sever a sapling with a hedging bill by the head of the prophet the most wonderful blow said the sultan critically and accurately examining the iron bar which had been cut asunder and the blade of the sword was so well tempered as to exhibit not the least token of having suffered by the feat it had performed he then took the king's hand and looking at the sword and looked at the sword as to exhibit not the least token of having suffered by the feat it had performed he then took the king's hand and looking at the sword

Starting point is 13:17:13 and looking on the size and muscular strength which it exhibited laughed as he placed it beside his own so lank and thin so inferior in brawn and sinew ay look well said devorke's in english it will be long ere your long jacknames fingers do such a feat with your fine gilded reaping hook there silence devour said richard vile lady he understands or guesses thy meaning be not so broad i pray thee the sultan indeed presently said something i would fain attempt though wherefore should the weak show the inferiority in presence of the strong yet each land hath his own exercises and this may be new to the melachrhic so saying he took from the floor a cushion of silken down and placed it upright and on end can thy weapon my brother sever that cushion he said to conchion Richard? "'No, surely,' replied the king. "'No sword on earth, where it the excalibor of King Arthur "'can cut that which reposes no steady resistance to the blow.' "'Mark, then,' said Saladin,

Starting point is 13:18:27 "'and, tucking up the sleeve of his gown, showed his arm, "'thin indeed and spare, but which constant exercise "'had hardened into a mass consisting of naught but bone, brawn, and sinew. "'He unsheathed his sylisheathed his syl. a curved and narrow blade which glittered not like the swords of the francs but was on the contrary of a dull blue colour marked with ten millions of meandering lines which showed how anxiously the metal had been wielded by the armourer wielding this weapon apparently so inefficient when compared to that of richard the sultan stood resting his weight upon his left foot which was slightly advanced he braced himself a little as if to steady his aim then, stepping at once forward, drew the scimitar across the cushion, applying the edge so dexterously and with so little apparent effort,

Starting point is 13:19:22 that the cushion seemed rather to fall asunder than to be divided by violence. It's a juggler's trick, said De Vork, darting forward and snatching out the portion of the cushion which had been cut off, as if to ensure himself with the reality of the feat. There is Grammere in this. The Saldon seemed to comprehend. him, for he undid the sort of veil which he had hitherto worn, laid it double along the edge of his sabre, extended the weapon edgeways in the air, and, drawing it suddenly through the veil, although it hung on the blade entirely loose, severed that also into two parts, which floated to different sides of the

Starting point is 13:20:03 tents, equally displaying the extreme temper and sharpness of the weapon, and the exquisite dexterity of him who used it. "'Now, in good faith, my brother,' said Richard, "'thou art even matchless at the trick of the sword, "'and right perilous were it to meet thee. "'Still, however, I put some faith in a downright English blow. "'And what we cannot do by slight, we eke out by strength. "'Nevertheless, in truth, thou art as expert in inflicting wounds,

Starting point is 13:20:32 "'as my sage who came in curing them. "'I trust I shall see the learned leech. "'I have much to thank him for, and had brought some small present. as he spoke saladin exchanged his turban for a tartar cap he had no sooner done so then devorks opened at once his extended mouth and his large round eyes and richard gait was scarce less astonishment while the sultan spoke in a grave and altered voice the sick man saith the poet while he is yet infirm knoweth the physician by his step but when he is recovered he knoweth not even his face when he looks upon him him. "'A miracle! A miracle!' exclaimed Richard. "'Of my hounds working, doubtless,' said Thomas De Vorks. "'That I should lose my lennet, Hakeem,' said Richard,

Starting point is 13:21:24 merely by absence of his cap and robe, and that I should find him again in my royal brother Saladin.' "'Such as after the fashion of the world,' answered the Saldan. "'The tattered robe makes not always the device.' "'And it was through thy end. intercession, said Richard, that yonder knight of the leopard was saved from death, and by thy artifice that he revisited my camp in disguise? Even so, replied Saladin. I was physician enough to know that, unless the wounds of his bleeding honour were stenched, the days of his life must be few. His disguise

Starting point is 13:22:03 was more easily penetrated than I had expected from the success of my own. An accident, said King Richard, probably alluding to the circumstance of his applying to his lips to the wound of the supposed nubian let me first know that his skin was artificially discolored and that hint once taken detection became easy for his form and person are not to be forgotten i confidently expect that he will do battle on the morrow he is full in preparation and high in hope said the sultan i have furnished him with weapons and horse thinking nobly of him from what i have seen on the morrow he is full in preparation and high in hope said the sultan i have furnished him with weapons and horse thinking nobly of him from what i have seen under various disguises. "'Know's he now?' said Richard, "'to whom he lies under obligation.' "'He doth,' replied the Saracen. "'I was obliged to confess my person

Starting point is 13:22:57 "'when I unfolded my purpose.' "'And confessed he ought to you,' said the King of England. "'Nothing explicit,' replied the Sultan. "'But from much that passed between us, "'I conceive his love is too highly placed "'to be happy in its issue. "'And thou knowest that his daring and insolent, passion crossed thine own wishes said richard i might guess so much said saladon but his passion had existed ere my wishes had been formed and i must know ed is likely to survive them

Starting point is 13:23:35 i cannot in honor revenge me for my disappointment on him who had no hand in it or if this high-born dame loved him better than myself who can say that she did not justice to a knight of her own religion who is full of nobleness yet of too mean lineage to mix with the blood of plantagint said richard haughtily such may be your maxims in fragistan replied the sultan our poets of the eastern countries say that a valiant camel-driver is worthy to kiss the lips of a fair queen when a cowardly prince is not worthy to salute the hem of her garment but with your permission noble brother i must take leave of thee for the present to receive the duke of austria and john of nazarene knight much less worthy of hospitality but who must yet be suitly entreated not for their sakes but for mine own honour for what saith the sage-loakman say not that the food is lost unto thee which is given to the stranger for if his body be strengthened and fattened therewithal not less is thine own worship a good name cherished and augmented the saracen monarch departed from king richard's tent and having indicated to him rather with signs and with speech where the pavilion of the queen and her attendance was pitched he went to receive the marquess of montserrat and his attendance for whom with less goodwill, but with equal splendour, their magnificent Saldan had provided accommodations. The most ample refreshments, both in the Oriental and after the European fashion,

Starting point is 13:25:19 was spread before the royal and princely guests of Saladin, each in their own separate pavilion. And so attentive was a Saldan to the habits and tastes of his visitors, that Grecian slaves were stationed to present them with the goblet, which is the abomination of the sect of Muhammad. ere Richard had finished his meal, the ancient Omra, who had brought the Saldan's letter to the Christian camp, ended with a plan of the ceremonial to be observed on the succeeding day of combat. Richard, who knew the taste of his old acquaintance, invited him to pledge him in a flagon of wine of Shiraz. But Abdullah gave him to understand, with a rueful aspect, that self-denal in the present circumstances was a matter in which his life was concerned. for that saladin tolerant in many respects both observed and enforced by high penalties the law of the prophet nay then said richard if he loves not wine that lightener of the human heart his conversion is not to be hoped for and the prediction of the mad priestdom in gaddy goes like chaff down the wind the king then addressed himself to settle the articles of combat which cost a considerable time as it was necessary on some points to consult with the opposite

Starting point is 13:26:42 parties, as well as with the Saldan. They were at length finally agreed upon, and adjusted by protocol in French and in Arabian, which was subscribed by Saladin as umpire of the field, and by Richard and Leopold as guarantees for the two combatants. As the armour took his final leave of King Richard for the evening, Divorkes entered. The good night, he said, who is to do battle to-morrow, requests to know whether he may not, to-night, pay duty to his royal godfather. Has thou seen him, De Vaux? said the king, smiling.

Starting point is 13:27:23 And is thou no an ancient acquaintance? By our Lady of Lanark-Cost, answered De Vorks. There are so many surprises and changes in this land that my poor brain turns. I scarce knew Sir Kenneth of Scotland, till his good hound, that had been for a short while under my care, came and fawned on me. And even then I only knew the tyke by the depth of his own. chest, the roundness of his foot, and his manner of baying, for the poor gaze-hound was painted like any Venetian courtesan.

Starting point is 13:27:55 "'Thou art better skilled in brutes than men, divauch, said the king.' "'I will not deny,' said DeVorx. "'I have found them of times the honester animals. Also, your grace is pleased to term me sometimes a brute myself. Besides that, I serve the lion, whom all men acknowledge the king of brutes. by st george there thou brokest thy lance fairly on my brow said the king i have ever said thou hast a sort of wit de vaux marie one must strike thee with a sledge-hammer ere it can be made to sparkle but to the present gear is the good knight well armed and equipped fully my liege and nobly answered devorx i know the armour well it is that which the venetian commissary offered your highness just ere you became ill for five hundred by zance and he hath sold it to the infidel sultan i warrant me for a few ducats more and present payment these venetians would sell the sepulchre itself

Starting point is 13:29:00 the armor will never be born in a nobler cause said devaawks thanks to the nobleness of the saracen said the king not to the avarice of the venetians i would to god your grace would be more cautious said the anxious here are we deserted by our allies for points of offence given to one or other we cannot hope to prosper upon the land and we have only to quarrel with the amphibious republic to lose the means of retreat by sea i will take care said richard impatiently but scull me no more tell me rather for it is of interest hath the knight a confessor he hath answered ivorks the hermit of angadi who ersted him that office when preparing for death, attends him on the present occasion, the fame of the jewel having brought him hither. "'Tis well,' said Richard. "'And now for the knight's request. Say to him, Richard will receive him when the discharge of his devour beside the diamond of the desert shall have atoned for his fault beside the mount of St. George. And as they'll pass it through the camp, let the queen know I will visit her pavilion,

Starting point is 13:30:16 and tell Blondell to meet me there.' "'Divorgs departed, and in about an hour afterwards, "'Richard, wrapping his mantle around him, "'and taken his giton in his hand, walked in the direction of the Queen's Pavilion. "'Several Arabs passed him, "'the toys with averted heads and looks fixed upon the earth, "'though he could observe that all gazed earnestly after him when he was passed. "'This led him justly to conjecture that his person was known to them,

Starting point is 13:30:45 "'but that either of the Saldan's command, or their own oriental politeness forbade them to seem to notice a sovereign who desired to remain incognito when the king reached the pavilion of its queen he found it guarded by those unhappy officials whom eastern jealousy places around the zenena blonder was walking before the door and touched his rote from time to time in a manner which made the africans show their ivory teeth and bear burden with their strange gestures and shrill unnatural voices what art thou after with this herd of black cattle blondell said the king wherefore goest thou not into the tent because my trade can neither spare the hand nor the fingers said blondell and these honest black moors threatened to cut me from joint to joint if i pressed forward well enter with me said the king and i will be thy safeguard the blacks accordingly lowered pikes and swords to king richard and bade their eyes on the ground as if unworthy to look upon him in the interior of the pavilion they found thomas devorks in attendance on the cream while berengaria welcomed blondell king richard spoke for some time secretly and apart with his fair kinswoman. At length,

Starting point is 13:32:11 are we still foes, my dear Edith? He said in a whisper, No, my liege, said Edith, in a voice just so low as not to interrupt the music. None can bear enmity against King Richard, when he dines to show himself, as he really is,

Starting point is 13:32:29 generous and noble, as well as valiant and honourable. So saying she extended her hand to him, the king kissed it in token of reconciliation and then proceeded you think my sweet cousin that my anger in this matter was feigned but you are deceived the punishment i inflicted upon this night was just for he had betrayed no matter for how tempting a bribe fair cousin the trust committed to him but i rejoice perchance as much as you that to-morrow gives him a chance to win the field and throw back the stain which for a time clung to him upon the actual thief and traitor no future times may blame richard for impetuous folly but they shall say that in rendering judgment he was just when he should and merciful when he could lord not thyself cousin king said edith they may call thy justice cruelty thy mercy caprice and do not pride thyself said the king as if thy knight who hath not yet buckled in his armour were unbolting it in triumph conrad of montserrat is held a good lance what if the scot should lose the day it is impossible said edith firmly my own eye saw yonder conrad tremble and change colour like a base thief he is guilty and the trial by combat is an appeal to the justice of god i myself in such a cause

Starting point is 13:33:58 would encounter him without fear. By the mass, I think thou wouldest, wench, said the king, and beat him to boot, for they never breathed a truer plentaget than thou. He paused and added in a very serious tone. See that thou continue to remember what is due to thy birth? What means that advice so seriously given at this moment? Said Edith, Am I of such light nature as to forget my name, my condition?

Starting point is 13:34:29 i will speak plainly edith answered the king and as to a friend what will this knight be to you should he come off victor from yonder lists to me said edith blushing deep with shame and displeasure what can he be to me more than an honored knight worthy of such grace as queen beringaria might confer on him had he selected her for his lady instead of a more unworthy choice the meanest knight may devote himself to the service of an empress but the glory of his choice she said proudly must be his reward yet he hath served and suffered much for you said the king i have paid his services with honour and applause and his sufferings with tears answered edith had he desired other reward he would have done wisely to have bestowed his affections within his own degree you would not then wear the bloody night-gear for his sake said king richard no more answered edith than i would have required him to expose his life by an action in which there was more madness than honour maidens talk ever thus said the king but when the favoured lover presses his suit she says with a sigh her stars have decreed otherwise your grace has now for the second time threatened me with the influence of my horoscope. Edith replied with dignity.

Starting point is 13:36:06 Trust me, my liege, whatever be the power of the stars, your poor kinswoman will never wed either infidel or obscure adventurer. Permit me that I listen to the music of Blondel, for the tone of your royal admonitions is scarce so grateful to the ear. The conclusion of the evening offered nothing worthy

Starting point is 13:36:25 of notice. End of Chapter 27, Part 2. Chapter 28 of the Talisman. This is a Libravox recording, while Libravox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Libravox.org. According by Lizzie Driver The Talisman by Sir Walter Scott, Chapter 28. Heard ye the din of Battlebrae, lance to lance and horse to horse.

Starting point is 13:37:00 Gray It had been agreed, on account of the heat of the climate, that the judicial combat, which was the cause of the present assemblage of various nations at the diamond of the desert, should take place at one hour after sunrise. The wide lists, which had been constructed under the inspection of the night of the leopard, enclosed a space of hard sand, which was 120 yards long by 40 in width. They extended in length from north to south, so as to give both parties the equal advantage of the rising sun. Saladin's royal seat was erected on the western side of the enclosure, just in the centre, where the combatants were

Starting point is 13:37:42 expected to meet in mid-en-counter. Opposed to this was a galley with closed casements, so contrived that the ladies, for whose accommodation it was erected, might see the fight, without being themselves exposed to view. At either extremity of the lists was a barrier, which could be open or shut at pleasure. Thrones had also been erected, but the archduke perceiving that his was lower than king richards refused to occupy it and cordillian who would have submitted to much ere any formality should have interfered with the combat readily agreed that the sponsors as they were called should remain on horseback during the fight at one extremity of the lists were placed the followers of richard and opposed to them with those who accompanied the defender conrad around the throne destined with the sultan were arranged his splendid georgian guard and the rest of the enclosure was occupied by christian and mohammedean spectators long before daybreak the lists was surrounded by an even large number of saracens than richard had seen on the preceding evening when the first ray of the sun's glorious orb arose above the desert the sonorous call to prayer to prayer was poured forth by the sultan himself and answered by others whose rank and zeal entitled them to act as

Starting point is 13:39:08 it was a striking spectacle to see them all sink to earth for the purpose of repeating their devotions when their faces turned to mecca that when they arose from the ground the sun's rays now strengthening fast seemed to confirm the lord of gillsland's conjecture of the night before they were flashed back from many a spear-head for the pointless lances of the preceding day were certainly no longer such devorx pointed it out to his master who answered with impatience that he had perfect confidence in the good faith of the sultan but if devorx was afraid of his bulky body he might retire soon after this the noise of timbrells was heard at the sound of which the whole saracen cavaliers threw themselves from their horses and prostrated themselves as if for a second morning prayer this was to give an opportunity to the queen with edith and her attendants to pass from the pavilion to the gallery intended for them fifty guards of saladin seriglio escorted them with naked sabres whose orders were to cut to pieces whomesoever were he prince or peasant should venture to gaze on the ladies as they passed or even presumed to raise his head unto the secession of the music should make all men aware that they were lodged in their gallery not to be gazed on by the curious eye their superstitious observance of oriental reverence to the fair sex, called forth from Queen Beringaria

Starting point is 13:40:43 some criticisms very unfavourable to Saladin in his country. But their den, as the Royal Fair called it, being securely closed and guarded by the sable attendance, she was under the necessity of contenting herself with seeing, and laying aside for the present the still more exquisite pleasure of being seen.

Starting point is 13:41:05 Meantime the sponsors of both champions went, as was their duty, to see that they were duly armed and prepared for combat. The Archduke of Austria was in no hurry to perform this part of the ceremony, having had rather an unusually severe debauch upon wine of Shiraz the preceding evening. But the Grand Master of the Temple, more deeply concerned in the event of the combat, was early before the tent of Conrad and Montserrat. To his great surprise the attendants refused him admittance.

Starting point is 13:41:36 Do you not know me, ye knaves? said the Grandmaster in great anger. We do, most valiant and reverend, answered Conrad's squire. But even you may not at present enter, the Marquess is about to confess himself. Confess himself? exclaimed the Templar,

Starting point is 13:41:56 in a tone where alarm mingled with surprise and scorn. And to whom I pray thee? My master bid me be secret, said the squire, on which the Grandmaster pushed past him, and entered the tent almost by force. The Marquess of Monserat was kneeling at the feet of the hermit of Ngadi, and in the act of beginning his confession. What means this Marquess? said the Grandmaster.

Starting point is 13:42:24 Up for shame. Or, if you must needs confess, am I not here? I have confessed to you too often already, replied Conrad, with a pale cheek and a faltering voice. For God's sake, Grandmaster, be gone. and let me unfold my conscience to this holy man in what way is he holier than i am said the grand master hermit prophet madman say if thou darest in what thou excellest me bold and bad man replied the hermit know that i am like the lattice window and the divine light passes through to avail others though alas it helpeth not me thou art like the iron stanchions which neither receive light themselves nor communicate it to anyone. Pray not to me, but depart from this tent, said the Grandmaster. The Marquess shall not

Starting point is 13:43:17 confess this morning, unless it be to me, for I impart not from his side. Is this your pleasure? said the hermitter Conrad. For think not I will obey that proud man, if you continue to desire my assistance. Alas, said Conrad irresolutely, what would you have me say? Farewell for a while. We will speak a non. Oh, procrastination! exclaimed the hermit. Thou art a sole murderer. Unhappy man, farewell. Not for a while, but until we shall both meet no matter where.

Starting point is 13:43:55 And for thee? He added, turning to the Grandmaster, Tremble. Tremble? Replied the Templar contemptuously. I cannot if I would. The hermit had not his answer, having left the tent. Come, to this gear,

Starting point is 13:44:13 "'Hastily,' said the Grandmaster, "'since thou wilt needs go through this forlory. "'Hark thee, I think I know most of thy frailties by heart, "'so we may omit the detail, which may be somewhat a large one, "'and begin with the absolution. "'What signifies counting the spots of dirt "'that we are about to wash from our hands?' "'Knowing what thou art thyself,' said Conrad,

Starting point is 13:44:38 "'it is blasphemous to speak of pardoning another. "'That is not according to the, the canon, Lord Marquez, said the Templar, thou art more scrupulous than orthodox. The absolution of the wicked priest is as effectual as if he were himself a saint, Eloise. God help the poor penitent! What wounded man inquires whether the surgeon that tends his gashes, has clean hands or no. Come, shall we to this toy?

Starting point is 13:45:05 No, said Conrad. I will rather die unconfessed, than mock the sacrament. "'Come, noble Marquess,' said the Templar. "'Rouse up your courage, and speak not thus. "'In an hour's time thou shalt stand victorious in the lists, "'or confess thee in thy helmet like a valiant knight.' "'Alas, grandmaster,' answered Conrad, "'awgers ill for this affair,

Starting point is 13:45:34 "'the strange discovery by the instinct of the dog, "'the revival of this Scottish knight, "'who comes into the list like a spectre, "'all betokens evil.' "'Pshaw!' said the templar i have seen thee bend thy lance boldly against him in sport and with equal chance of success think thou art but in a tournament and who bears him better in the tilt yard than thou come squires and armorers your master must be a cootrid for the field the attendants entered accordingly and began to arm the marquess what morning is without said conrad the sun rises dimly answered a squire thou seest grand master said conrad not smiles on us thou wilt fight the more coolly my son answered the templar thank heaven that had tempered the son of palestine to suit thine occasion

Starting point is 13:46:31 thus jested the grand master but his jest had lost their influence on the harassed mind of the marquess and notwithstanding his attempts to seem gay his gloom communicated itself to the templar this craven he thought will lose the day in pure faintness and cowardice of heart which he calls tender conscience i whom visions an augury shake not who infirm in my purpose is the living rock i should have fought the combat myself would to god the scot may strike him dead on the spot it were next best to his winning the victory but come what will he must have no other confesser than myself our sins are too much in common and he might confess my share with his own while these thoughts passed through his mind he continued to assist the marquess in arming but it was in silence the hour at length arrived the trumpets sounded the knights rode into the lists armed at all points and mounted like men who were to do battle for a kingdom's honour. They wore their visors up, and riding around the lists three times, showed themselves to the spectators. Both were goodly persons, and both had noble countenances. But there was an air of manly confidence on the borough of the Scot, a radency of hope which amounted even to cheerfulness. While, although pride and effort had recalled much of Conrad's natural

Starting point is 13:48:00 courage, they lowered still on his brow a cloud of ominous despondence. even his steeds seemed to tread less lightly and blithely to the trumpet sound than the noble arab which was bestrod by sir kenneth and the spruce brecher shook his head while he observed that while the challenger rode around the lists in the course of the sun that is from right to left the defender made the same circuit whiddonsonsons that is from left to right which is in most countries held ominous a temporary altar was erected just beneath the gallery occupied by the queen, and beside it stood the hermit in the dress of his order as a Carmelite friar. Other churchmen were also present. To this altar, the challenger and defender was successfully brought forward, conducted by the respective sponsors. Dismounting before it, each knight avouched the justice of his cause by a solemn oath on the evangelists, and prayed that his success might be according to the truth or falsehood of what he then swore.

Starting point is 13:49:08 They also made oath that they came to do battle in knightly guise, and with the usual weapons, disclaiming the use of spells, charms, or magical devices to incline victory to their side. The challenger pronounced his vow with a firm and manly voice, and a bold and cheerful countenance. When the ceremony was finished, the Scottish knight looked at the gallery, and bent his head to the earth, as if in honour of those invisible beauties which were enclosed within then loaded with armour as he was sprung to the saddle without the use of the stirrup and made his courser carry him in a succession of carousals to his station at the eastern extremity of the lists conrad also presented himself before the altar with boldness enough but his voice as he took the oath sounded hollow as if drowned in his helmet the lips with which he appealed to heaven to a judge victory to the just quarrel grew white as they utter the impious mockery and as he turned to remount his horse the grand master approached him closer as if to rectify something about the sitting of his gorgat and whispered coward and fall recall thy senses and do me this battle bravely else by heaven shouldst thou escape it thou escape is not me the savage tone in which this was whispered perhaps completed the confusion of the marquis nerves for he stumbled as he made to his horse

Starting point is 13:50:43 and though he recovered his feet sprung to the saddle with his usual agility and displayed his address in a horsemanship as he assumed his position opposite to the challenges yet the accident did not escape those who were on watch for omens which might predict the fate of the day the priests after a solemn prayer that god would show the rightful quarrel departed from the lists the trumpets of the challenger then wrung a flourish and a herald at arms proclaimed at the eastern end of the lists here stands a good knight sir kenneth of scotland champion for the royal king richard of england who accuses conrad marquess of montserrat of foul treason and dishonour done to the said king When the words Kenneth of Scotland announced the name and carriage of the champion, hitherto, scarce generally known, a loud and cheerful acclaim burst forth from the followers of King Richard, and hardly, notwithstanding repeated commands of silence, suffered the reply of the defendant to be heard. He, of course, avounced his innocence, and offered his body for battle. The esquires of the combatants now approached, and delivered to each his shield and lance, assisting to hang the former around his neck that his two hands might remain free one for the management of the bridle the other to direct the lance the shield of the scott displayed his old bearing the leopard but with the addition of a collar and broken chain in allusion to his late captivity

Starting point is 13:52:18 the shield of the marquess bore in reference to his title a serrated and rocky mountain each shook his lance aloft as if to ascertain the weight and toughness of the unwieldy weapon and then laid it in the rest. The sponsors, heralds and squires now retired to the barriers, and the combatants sat opposite to each other, face to face, with couched lance and closed visor. The human form so completely enclosed that they looked more like statues of molten iron than beings of flesh and blood.

Starting point is 13:52:53 The silence or suspense was now general. Men breathed thicker, and their very soul seemed seated in their eyes. while not a sound was to be heard save the snorting and pouring of the good steeds who sensible of what was about to happen were impatient to dash into career they stood thus for perhaps three minutes when at a signal given by the sultan a hundred instruments ran the air with their brazen clamors and each champion striking his horse with the spurs and slacking the rain the horses started in full gallop and the knights met in mid-space with a shock like a thunderbolt the victory was not in doubt no not one moment conrad indeed showed himself a practised warrior for he struck his antagonist nightly in the midst of his shield bearing his lance so straight and true that it shivered into splinters from the steel spear-head up to the very gauntlet the horse of sir kenneth recoiled two or three yards and fell on his haunches but the rider easily raised him with hand and rain but for conrad he had been with his ha'nard but for conrad he recoiled two or three yards and fell on his ha'nches but for conrad heighed hewold there was no recovery.

Starting point is 13:54:06 Sir Kenneth's lance had pierced through the shield, through a plaited corslet of Milan's steel, through a secret, or coat of linked mail worn beneath the corslet, had wounded him deep in the bosom, and borne him from his saddle, leaving the truncheon of the lance fixed in his wound. The sponsors, heralds, and Saladin himself descended from his throne, crowded around the wounded man,

Starting point is 13:54:31 while Sir Kenneth, who had drawn his sword ere yet he disguised, discovered his antagonist was totally helpless, now commanded him to avow his guilt. The helmet was hastily unclosed, and the wounded man, gazing wildly on the skies, replied, What would you more? God hath decided justly. I am guilty, but there are worse traitors in the camp than I. In pity to my soul, let me have a confessor. He revived as he uttered these words. "'The talisman, the powerful remedy, royal brother,' said King Richard to Saladin. "'The traitor,' answered the Saldan, "'is more fit to be dragged from the list to the gallows by the heels than to profit by its virtues.'

Starting point is 13:55:20 "'And some such fate is in his look,' he added, after gazing fixedly upon the wounded man. "'For though his wound may be cured, yet Asriel's seal is on the wretch's brow. "'Nevertheless,' said Richard, "'I pray you do for him what you may, "'that you may at least have time for confession, "'slay not a soul and body. "'To him one half hour of time "'may be worth more by ten thousandfold

Starting point is 13:55:47 "'than the life of the oldest patriarch.' "'My royal brothers wish shall be obeyed,' said Saladin. "'Slave, bear this wounded man to our tent.' "'Do not so,' said the Templar, "'who had hitherto, stood gloomily looking on in silence, The Royal Duke of Austria and myself will not permit this unhappy Christian prince to be delivered over to the Saracens, that they may try their spells upon him. We are responses and demand that he be assigned to our care. That is, you refuse a certain means offered to recover him? said Richard.

Starting point is 13:56:27 Not so, said the Grandmaster, recollecting himself. If the Sultan useth lawful medicines, he may attend the patient in my tent. "'Do so, O pray thee, good brother,' said Richard to Saladin, "'though the permission be ungraciously yielded. "'But now, to a more glorious work. "'Sound trumpets, shout England, in honour of England's champion.' "'Drum, clarion, trumpet, and symbol rung forth at once, "'and the deep and regular shout, which for ages has been the English acclamation,

Starting point is 13:57:02 "'sounded amidst the shrill and irregular yells of the Arabs, "'that the depassion of the organ amid the howling of a storm. there was silence at length brave knight of the leopard resumed cordillian thou hast shown that the ethiopian may change his skin and the leopard his spots though clerks quote scripture for the impossibility yet i have more to say to you when i have conducted you to the presence of the ladies the best judges and best rewarders of the deeds of chivalry the knight of the leopard bowed assent and thou princely sultan will also attend them I promise the Our Queen will not think herself welcome if she lacks the opportunity to thank her royal host for her most princely reception. Saladin bent his head gracefully, but declined the invitation.

Starting point is 13:57:52 I must attend the wounded man, he said. The leech leaves not his patient more than the champion the lists, even if he be summoned to the bower like those of paradise. And further, Royal Richard, know that the blood of the east flows not so temporarily in the presence of beauty, as that of your land. What saith the book itself? Herri is at the edge of the sword or the prophet, who shall look upon it? He that would not be burnt avoideth to tread on hot embers. Wise men spread not the flax before a flickering touch. He, saithed the sage, who hath forfeited

Starting point is 13:58:29 a treasure, doth not wisely to turn back his head to gaze at it. Richard, it may be believed, respect to the motives of delicacy which flowed from manners so different from his own. and urged his request no further at noon said the sultan as he departed i trust you will all accept a collation under the black camel-skin tent of a chief of kurdistan the same invitation was circulated among the christians comprehending all those of sufficient importance to be admitted to sit at a feast-mote of princes hark said richard the timbrials announced that our queen and her attendants are leaving their gallery and see the turban sink on the ground as if struck down by a destroying angel all i prostrate as if the glance of an arab's eye could sully the lustre of a lady's cheek come we will to the pavilion and lead our conqueror tither in triumph how i pity that noble sultan who knows but of love as it is known to those of inferior nature blondell tuned his heart to his boldest measure to welcome the introduction of the victor into the pavilion of queen beringeria he entered supported on either side by his sponsors richard and thomas longsword and knelt gracefully down before the queen the more than half the homage was silently rendered to edith who sat on her right hand unarm him my mistresses said the king whose delight was in the execution of such chivalrous usages let beauty on a chivalry

Starting point is 14:00:10 and do his spurs beringeria queen though thou be thou oest him what marks of favour thou canst give and lays his helmet edith by this hand thou shalt wert thou the plauders plantation of the line and he the poorest knight on earth both ladies obeyed the royal commands vering geria with bustling assiduity as anxious to gratify her husband's humour and edith blushing and growing pale alternatively as slowly and awkwardly she undered with longsword's assistance the fastenings which secured the helmet to the gorgat and what expect you from beneath this iron shell said richard as the removal of the cast gave to view the noble countenance of sir kenneth his face glowing with recent exertion and not less so with present emotion what think ye of him gallants and beauties said richard doth he resemble an ethiopian slave or doth he present the face of an obscure and nameless adventurer no by my good sword here terminate his various disguises he hath knelt down before you unknown save by his worth he arises equally distinguished by birth and by fortune the adventurous knight kenneth arises david earl of huntingdon prince royal of Scotland. There was a general exclamation of surprise, and Edith dropped from her hand the helmet which she had just received. Yes, my masters, said the king, it is even so. You know how Scotland has deceived us when she proposed to send this valiant earl with a bored company of her best and noblest

Starting point is 14:01:47 to aid our arms in this conquest of Palestine, but failed to comply with her engagements. This noble youth, and to whom the scottish crusaders were to have been arrayed thought foul scorn that his arms should be withheld from the holy warfare and joined us at sicily with a small train of devoted and faithful attendants which was augmented by many of his countrymen to whom the rank of their leader was unknown the confidence of the royal prince had all save one follower fallen by death when his secret but too well kept had near occasioned my cutting off in a scottish adventurer one of the noblest hopes of europe why did you not mention your rank noble huntingdon when engineered by my hasty and passionate sentence was it that you thought richard capable of abuse in the advantage i possessed over the air of a king whom i have so often found hostile i did you not that injustice royal richard answered the earl of huntingdon but my pride broke not that i should avow myself prince of scotland in order to save my life endangered for default of loyalty and moreover i had made my vow to preserve my rank unknown till the crusade should be accomplished nor did i mention its save in articulo moratess and under the seal of confession to yonder reverend hermit it was the knowledge of that secret then which made the good man so urgent with me to recall my severe sentence said richard well he did say that had this good knight fallen by my mandate i should have wished the deed undone though it had cost me a limb i should have wished it undone had it cost me my life since the world would have said that richard had abused the condition in which the heir of scotland had placed himself by his confidence in his generosity yet may we know of your grace by what strange and happy chance this riddle was at length read said queen beringeria let us report to us from england said the king

Starting point is 14:03:49 in which we learned among other unpleasant news that the king of scotland had seized upon three of our nobles when on a pilgrimage to send ninan and alleged as a cause that his heir being supposed to be fighting in the ranks of teutonic knights against the heathen of borosia was in fact in our camp and in our camp and in our power, and therefore William proposed to hold these nobles as hostages for his safety. This gave me the first light on the real rank of the knight of the leopard, and my suspicions were confirmed by Duvaux, who, on his return from Ascalon, brought back with him the Earl of Huntington's sole attendance, a thick-sculled slave, who had gone thirty miles to unfold to De Vauks a secret he should have told to me. Old Strachan must be excused, said the Lord of Gilsland. he knew from experience that my heart is somewhat softer than if i wrote myself plantagant thy heart soft thou a commodity of an old iron and cumberland flint that thou art exclaimed the king it is we plantagents who boast soft and feeling hearts edith turning to his cousin with an expression which called the blood into a cheek give me thy hand my fair cousin and prince of scotland thine

Starting point is 14:05:09 forbear my lord said edith hanging back and endeavouring to hide a confusion and in an attempt to rally her royal kinsman's credulity remember you not that my hand was to be the signal of converting to the christian faith as saracen and arab saladin and all his turbaned host ay but the wind of prophecy is chopped about and sits now in another corner replied richard muck not lest your bonds be made strong said the hermit stepping forward the heavenly host writes nothing but in truth their brilliant records it is man's eyes which are too weak to read their characters right no that when saladin and kenneth of scotland slept in my grotto i read in the stars that there rested under my roof a prince the natural foe of richard with whom the fate of edith pentagent was to be united could i doubt that this must be the sultan whose rank was well known to me as he often visited myself to converse in the revolutions of those heavenly bodies again the lights of the firmament proclaimed that this prince the husband of edith's plantagint should be a christian and i weak and wild interpreter argued thence the conversion of the noble sulladin whose good qualities seemed often to incline him towards the better faith the sense of my weakness have humbled me to the dust but in the dust I have found comfort. I have not read or right the fate of others. Who can assure me but that I may have miscalculated mine own? God will not have us break his council-house, or spy out his hidden mysteries. We must wait his time with watching and prayer, with fear and hope. I came hither the stern seer,

Starting point is 14:06:52 the proud prophet, skilled as I thought to instruct princes, and gifted even with supernatural powers, but burdened with a weight which I deemed no soldiers but mine could have borne. But my bands have been broken, and go hence humble in mine ignorant, penitent, and not hopeless. With these words he withdrew from the assembly, and it is recorded that from that period his frenzy fit seldom occurred, and his penances were of a milder character, and accompanied with better hopes of the future. So much is there of self-opinion, even in insanity, that the conviction of his having entertained and expressed an unfounded prediction with so much vehemence seemed to operate like the loss of blood on the human frame, to modify and lower the fever

Starting point is 14:07:39 of the brain. It is needless to follow into further particulars the conferences at the royal tent, or to inquire whether David, Earl of Huntingdon was as mute in the presence of Edith Pontagin as when he was bound to act under the character of an obscure and nameless adventurer. It may be well believed that he there expressed with suitable earnestness, that the passion to which she had so often before found it difficult to give words the hour of noon now approached and saladin waited to receive the princes of christiandom in a tent which but for its large size differed little from that of the ordinary shelter of the common curd-man or arab yet beneath its ample and sable covering was prepared a banquet after the most gorgeous fashion of the east extended upon carpets of the richest stuffs with cushions laid for the guests but we cannot stop to describe the cloth of gold and silver the superb embroidery in arbysk the shores of cashmere and the muslins of india which were here unfolded in all their splendour far less to tell the different sweetmeats rug-outs edged with rice coloured in various manners with all the other niceties of eastern cooking lambs roasted whole and gamem poultry dressed in pilius were parled in vessels of gold and silver and porcelain

Starting point is 14:09:04 and intermixed with large mazes of sherbet called in snow and ice from the caverns of mount lebanon a magnificent pile of cushions at the head of the banquet seemed prepared for the master of the feast and such dignitaries as he might call to share that place of distinction while from the roof of the tent in all quarters but over this seat of eminence in particular with many a banner and pennon the trophies of battles won and kingdoms overthrown but amongst an above them all a long lance displayed a shroud the banner of death with the impressive inscription saladin king of kings saladin victor of victors saladin must die amid these preparations the slaves who had arranged their refreshments stood with drooped heads and folded arms mutin motionless as monumental statutory or as automator which waited the touch of the artist to put them in motion expecting the approach of his princely guests the saldan imbued as most were with the superstitions of his time paused over a horoscope and corresponding scroll which had been sent to him by the hermit of angadi when he departed from the camp strange and mysterious science he muttered to himself which pretended to draw the curtain of futurity misleads those whom it seems to guide and darkens the scene which it pretends to illuminate who would not have said that i was the enemy most dangerous to richard whose enmity was to be ended by marriage with his kinswoman it now appears that a union betwixt his gallant earl and the lady will bring about friendship betwixt richard and scotland an enemy more dangerous than i as a wild cat in a chamber is more to be dreaded than a lion in a distant desert but then he continued to mutter to himself the combination intimates that this husband was to be christian christian christian

Starting point is 14:11:08 He repeated after a pause. That gave the insane fanatical stargazer hopes that I might renounce my faith. But me, the faithful follower of our prophet, me, it should have been undeceived. Lie there mysterious scroll, he added, thrusting it under the pile of cushions. Strange are thy bodiments and fatal, since, even when true in themselves, they work upon those whom attempt to decipher their meaning and all the effects of falsehood. "'Here now, what means this intrusion?' He spoke to the dwarf nectobanus, who rushed into the tent faithfully agitated,

Starting point is 14:11:47 with each strange and disproportionate feature wrenched by holler, into still more extravagant ugliness. His mouth open, his eyes staring, his hands, with their shrivelled and deformed fingers, wildly expanded. "'What now?' said the Saldanely. "'Acky-be-hok!' groaned out the dwarf. huh sayest thou answered sulladin accipi hoc replied the pain-struck creature unconscious perhaps that he repeated the same words as before hence i am in no vain for foolery said the emperor or am i a further fool said the dwarf than to make my folly help out my wits to earn my bread poor helpless wretch hear me hear me great sultan nay if thou hast actual wrong to complain of said saladin fool or wise thou art entitled to the ear of a king retire hither with me and he led him into the inner tent whatever their comforts related to it was soon broken off by the fanfare of the trumpets announced in the arrival of the various christian princes whom saladin welcomed to his tent with a royal courtesy well becoming their rank and his own but chiefly he saluted the young earl of huntingdon

Starting point is 14:13:13 and generously congratulated him upon prospects which seemed to have interfered with and overclouded those which he himself had entertained but think not said the soldier thou noble youth that the prince of scotland is more welcome to saladin than was kenneth to the solitary alderim when they met in the desert all the distressed ethiope to the hakeem adenbeck a brave and generous disposition like therein hath a value independent of condition and birth as the cool raft, which I hear profit thee, is as delicious from an earthen vessel as from a goblet of gold. The Earl of Huntingdon made a suitable reply, gratefully acknowledging the various important services he had received from the generous Saldon. But when he had pledged Saladin in the bowl of Sherbert, which the Saldon had proffered to him, he could not help remarking with a smile. The brave Cavalier Ildoram knew not of the formation of ice,

Starting point is 14:14:14 but the munificent Saldon calls his shepherds. but with snow. Wouldst thou have an Arab or a Kurdman as well as a hakeem? said the Sultan. He who does on a disguise must make the sentiments of his heart, and the learning of his head accorded with the dress which he assumes. I desire to see how a brave and single-hearted cavalier of Fragansthan would conduct himself in debate with such a chief as I then seemed, and I question the truth of a well-known fact, to know by what arguments thou would support thy assertion. While they were speaking, the Archduke of Austria, who stood a little apart, was struck with the mention of Ice Sherbert, and took with pleasure and some bluntness the

Starting point is 14:14:57 deep goblet, as the Earl of Huntington was about to replace it. "'Oh, delicious!' he exclaimed, after a deep draught, which the heat of the weather, and the feverishness following the debaulk of the preceding day, had rendered doubly acceptable. He sighed as he handed the cup to the grand master of the Templars. Saladin made a sign to the dwarf, who advanced and pronounced with a harsh voice the words, Acopee hock. The Templar started, like a steed who sees a lion under a bush besides the pathway,

Starting point is 14:15:33 yet instantly recovered, and to hide, perhaps, his confusion, raise the goblet to his lips. But those lips never touched that goblet's rim. The saber of Saladin left its sheaf as lightning leaves the cloud. It was waved in the air, and the head of the Grand Master rolled to the extremity of the tent, while the trunk remained for a second standing, with the goblets still clenched in its grasp, then fell, the liquor mingling with the blood that sprouted from the veins. There was a general exclamation of treason, and Austria, nearest to whom Saladin stood with

Starting point is 14:16:09 the bloody sabre in his hand, started back as if apprehensive that his turn was to come next. richard and others laid hands on their swords fear nothing noble austria said saladin as composedly as if nothing had happened nor you royal england be wrath at what you have seen not of his manifold treasons not for the intent which as may be vouched by his own squire he instigated against king richard's life not that he pursued the prince of scotland and myself in the desert reducing us to save our lives by the speed of our horses not that he had stirred up the maronites to attack us upon this a very occasion had i not brought so unexpectedly so many arabs as rendered the scheme abortive not for any or all of these crimes does he now lie there although each were deserving such a doom but because scarce half an hour ere he polluted our presence as is a simoon empoisons the atmosphere he poigniarded his comrade and accomplice conrad of montserrat lest he should confess the infamous plots in which they had both been engaged how conrad murdered and by the grand master his sponsor and most intimate friend exclaimed richard noble sultan i would not doubt thee yet this must be proved otherwise there stands the evidence said saladin pointing to the terrified dwarf allah who sends the fire-fly to illuminate the night season can discover secret crimes by the most contemptible means the soldier proceeded to tell the dwarf's story which amounted to this in his foolish curiosity or as he partly confessed with some thoughts of pilfering nectar barnards strayed into the tent of conrad

Starting point is 14:18:01 which had been deserted by his attendants some of whom had left the encampment to carry the news of his defeat to his brother and others were availing themselves of the means which soledon had supplied for reveling the wounded man slept under the influence of saladin's wonderful talisman so that the dwarf had opportunity to pry about at pleasure until he was frightened into concealment by the sound of a heavy step he sulked behind a curtain yet could see the motions and hear the words of the grand master who entered and carefully secured the covering of the pavilion behind him his victim started from sleep and it would appear that he instantly suspected the purpose of his old associate, for it was in a tone of alarm that he demanded wherefore he disturbed him. I come to confess and to absolve me, answered the Grandmaster. Of their further speech the terrified dwarf remembered little, save that Conrad implored the Grandmaster not to break a wounded reed, and that the Templars struck him to the heart with a Turkish dagger, with the words, Acupé Hoc! Words which long afterwards haunted the

Starting point is 14:19:15 terrified imagination of the concealed witness. I verified the tale, said Saladin, by causing the body to be examined, and I made this unhappy being, whom Allah hath made discover of the crimes, repeat in your presence the words which the murderer spoke, and you yourself saw the effect which they produced upon his conscience. The Saldon paused, and the King of England broke silence. If this be true, as I doubt not, we have witnessed a great act of justice, though it bore a different aspect. But wherefore in this presence, wherefore with thine own hands? I had designed otherwise, said Saladin. But had I not hastened his doom, it had been altogether averted,

Starting point is 14:20:02 since, if I had permitted him to taste of my cup, as he was about to do, how could I, without incurring the brand of inhospitality, have done him to death as he deserved? Had he murdered my father, and afterwards partaken of my food and my bowl, not a hair of his head could have been injured by me. But enough of him. Let his carcass and his memory be removed from amongst us. The body was carried away, and the marks of the slaughter obliterated or concealed, with such ready dexterity, as showed that the case was not altogether so uncommon as to paralyze the assistants and officers of Saladin's household. But the Christian princes felt that the scene which they had behelded weighed heavily on their spirits, and although at the courteous invitation of the

Starting point is 14:20:49 Saldan, they assumed their seats at the banquet, but it was with the silence of doubt and amazement. The spirits of Richard alone surmounted all cause to suspicion or embarrassment. Yet he, too, seemed to ruminate on some proposition, as if he were desirous of making it, in the most insinuating and acceptable manner which was possible. At length he drank off a large bowl of wine, and addressing the Saldan, desired to know whether it was not true that he had honoured the Earl of Huntingdon, with a personal encounter. Saladin answered with a smile

Starting point is 14:21:25 that he had proved his horse and his weapons with the air of Scotland, as cavaliers are wont to do with each other when they meet in the desert, and modestly added that, though the combat was not entirely decisive, he had not, on his part, much reason to pride himself in the event.

Starting point is 14:21:42 The Scot, on the other hand, disclaimed the arbitrated superiority, and wished to assign it to the Saldam. Enough of honour thou had to be. had in the encounter, said Richard. And I envy thee more for that than for the smiles of Edith Plantagint, though one of them might reward a bloody day's work. But what say you, noble princes?

Starting point is 14:22:03 Is it fitting that such a royal ring of chivalry should break up without something being done for future times to speak of? What is the overthrow and death of a traitor to such a fair garland of honour, as is here assembled, and which ought not to part without witnessing something more worthy of their regard? I'll say, you princely, Saldane, What if we two should now, and before this fair company, decide the long-contended question for this land to Palestine,

Starting point is 14:22:28 and enter at once these tedious wars? Yonder are the lists ready. Nor can Pyneumere ever hope a better champion than now. I, unless worthier offers, will lay down my gauntlet in behalf of Christendom, and in all love and honour we will do mortal battle for the possession of Jerusalem. There was a deep pause for the Saldan's answer. His cheek and brow coloured highly, and it was the opinion of many present that he hesitated whether he should accept the challenge.

Starting point is 14:23:00 At length he said, Fighting for the Holy City, against those whom we regard as idolaters and worshippers of stocks and stones and graven images, I might confine that Allah would strengthen my arm, or if I fell beneath the sword of the Melachrhic, i could not pass to paradise by a more glorious death that allah has already given jerusalem to the true believers and it were attempting the god or the prophet to peril upon my own personal strength and skill that which i hold securely by the superiority of my forces if not for jerusalem then said richard in the tone of one who would entreat a favor of an intimate friend yet for the love of honor let us run at least three courses with grinded lances even this said seladin half smiling a cordillian's affectionate earnestness for the combat even this i may not lawfully do the master places the shepherd over the flock not for the shepherd's own sake but for the sake of the sheep

Starting point is 14:24:04 had i a son to hold the sceptre when i fell i might have had the liberty as i had the will to braid this bold encounter but your own scripture saith that when the herdsman is smitten the sheep are scattered "'Thou hast had all the fortune,' said Richard, turning to the Earl of Huntingdon with a sigh. "'I would have given the best year in my life for that one half an hour beside the diamond of the desert.' The chivalrous exchange of Richard awakened the spirits of the assembly, and when it's length there rose to depart, Saladin advanced and took Courteleon by the hand. "'Nobel king of England,' he said, "'we now part, never to meet. meet again. That your league is dissolved, no more to be reunited, and that your noble forces are far too few to enable you to prosecute your enterprise, is as well known to me as to yourself. I may not yield you up that Jerusalem which you so much desire to hold. It is to us, as to you,

Starting point is 14:25:08 a holy city. But whatever other terms Richard demands of Saladin shall be as willingly yielded, as yonder fountain yields its water. I, and the same should be as frankly a afforded by Saladin if Richard stood in the desert with but two arches in his train. The next day saw Richard's return to his own camp, and in a short space afterwards the young Earl of Huntingdon was espoused by Edith Plantagint. The Saldan sent, as a nuptial present on this occasion, the celebrated talisman. But though many cures were wrought by means of it in Europe, none equaled in success and celebrity, those which the Saldan achieved.

Starting point is 14:25:50 it is still in existence having been bequeathed by the earl of huntingdon to a brave knight of scotland sir simon of the lee in whose ancient and highly honoured family it is still preserved and although charmed stones have been dismissed from the modern pharicopia its virtues are still applied to for stopping blood and in cases of canine madness our story closes here as the terms in which richard relinquished his conquests are to be found in every history of the period End of Chapter 28. End of the Talisman by Sir Walter Scott.

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