CHAPTER VIII.
The witch then raised her wither'd arm, And waved her wand on high, And, while she spoke the mutter'd charm, Dark lightning fill'd her eye.
MEIKLE.
"This should be the stair," said the Udaller, blundering in the darkagainst some steps of irregular ascent--"This should be the stair,unless my memory greatly fail me; ay, and there she sits," he added,pausing at a half-open door, "with all her tackle about her as usual,and as busy, doubtless, as the devil in a gale of wind."
As he made this irreverent comparison, he entered, followed by hisdaughters, the darkened apartment in which Norna was seated, amidst aconfused collection of books of various languages, parchment scrolls,tablets and stones inscribed with the straight and angular characters ofthe Runic alphabet, and similar articles, which the vulgar might haveconnected with the exercise of the forbidden arts. There were also lyingin the chamber, or hung over the rude and ill-contrived chimney, an oldshirt of mail, with the headpiece, battle-axe, and lance, which had oncebelonged to it; and on a shelf were disposed, in great order, several ofthose curious stone-axes, formed of green granite, which are often foundin those islands, where they are called thunderbolts by the commonpeople, who usually preserve them as a charm of security against theeffects of lightning. There was, moreover, to be seen amid the strangecollection, a stone sacrificial knife, used perhaps for immolating humanvictims, and one or two of the brazen implements called Celts, thepurpose of which has troubled the repose of so many antiquaries. Avariety of other articles, some of which had neither name nor werecapable of description, lay in confusion about the apartment; and in onecorner, on a quantity of withered sea-weed, reposed what seemed, atfirst view, to be a large unshapely dog, but, when seen more closely,proved to be a tame seal, which it had been Norna's amusement todomesticate.
This uncouth favourite bristled up in its corner, upon the arrival of somany strangers, with an alertness similar to that which a terrestrialdog would have displayed on a similar occasion but Norna remainedmotionless, seated behind a table of rough granite, propped up bymisshapen feet of the same material, which, besides the old book withwhich she seemed to be busied, sustained a cake of the coarse unleavenedbread, three parts oatmeal, and one the sawdust of fir, which is used bythe poor peasants of Norway, beside which stood a jar of water.
Magnus Troil remained a minute in silence gazing upon his kinswoman,while the singularity of her mansion inspired Brenda with much fear, andchanged, though but for a moment, the melancholy and abstracted mood ofMinna, into a feeling of interest not unmixed with awe. The silence wasinterrupted by the Udaller, who, unwilling on the one hand to give hiskinswoman offence, and desirous on the other to show that he was notdaunted by a reception so singular, opened the conversation thus:--
"I give you good e'en, cousin Norna--my daughters and I have come far tosee you."
Norna raised her eyes from her volume, looked full at her visitors, thenlet them quietly sit down on the leaf with which she seemed to beengaged.
"Nay, cousin," said Magnus, "take your own time--our business with youcan wait your leisure.--See here, Minna, what a fair prospect here is ofthe cape, scarce a quarter of a mile off! you may see the billowsbreaking on it topmast high. Our kinswoman has got a pretty seal,too--Here, sealchie, my man, whew, whew!"
The seal took no further notice of the Udaller's advances toacquaintance, than by uttering a low growl.
"He is not so well trained," continued the Udaller, affecting an air ofease and unconcern, "as Peter MacRaw's, the old piper of Stornoway, whohad a seal that flapped its tail to the tune of _Caberfae_, andacknowledged no other whatever.[20]--Well, cousin," he concluded,observing that Norna closed her book, "are you going to give us awelcome at last, or must we go farther than our blood-relation's houseto seek one, and that when the evening is wearing late apace?"
"Ye dull and hard-hearted generation, as deaf as the adder to the voiceof the charmer," answered Norna, addressing them, "why come ye to me?You have slighted every warning I could give of the coming harm, andnow that it hath come upon you, ye seek my counsel when it can avail younothing."
"Look you, kinswoman," said the Udaller, with his usual frankness, andboldness of manner and accent, "I must needs tell you that your courtesyis something of the coarsest and the coldest. I cannot say that I eversaw an adder, in regard there are none in these parts; but touching myown thoughts of what such a thing may be, it cannot be termed a suitablecomparison to me or to my daughters, and that I would have you to know.For old acquaintance, and certain other reasons, I do not leave yourhouse upon the instant; but as I came hither in all kindness andcivility, so I pray you to receive me with the like, otherwise we willdepart, and leave shame on your inhospitable threshold."
"How," said Norna, "dare you use such bold language in the house of onefrom whom all men, from whom you yourself, come to solicit counsel andaid? They who speak to the Reimkennar, must lower their voice to herbefore whom winds and waves hush both blast and billow."
"Blast and billow may hush themselves if they will," replied theperemptory Udaller, "but that will not I. I speak in the house of myfriend as in my own, and strike sail to none."
"And hope ye," said Norna, "by this rudeness to compel me to answer toyour interrogatories?"
"Kinswoman," replied Magnus Troil, "I know not so much as you of the oldNorse sagas; but this I know, that when kempies were wont, long since,to seek the habitations of the gall-dragons and spae-women, they camewith their axes on their shoulders, and their good swords drawn in theirhands, and compelled the power whom they invoked to listen to and toanswer them, ay were it Odin himself."
"Kinsman," said Norna, arising from her seat, and coming forward, "thouhast spoken well, and in good time for thyself and thy daughters; forhadst thou turned from my threshold without extorting an answer,morning's sun had never again shone upon you. The spirits who serve meare jealous, and will not be employed in aught that may benefithumanity, unless their service is commanded by the undaunted importunityof the brave and the free. And now speak, what wouldst thou have of me?"
"My daughter's health," replied Magnus, "which no remedies have beenable to restore."
"Thy daughter's health?" answered Norna; "and what is the maiden'sailment?"
"The physician," said Troil, "must name the disease. All that I can tellthee of it is"----
"Be silent," said Norna, interrupting him, "I know all thou canst tellme, and more than thou thyself knowest. Sit down, all of you--and thou,maiden," she said, addressing Minna, "sit thou in that chair," pointingto the place she had just left, "once the seat of Giervada, at whosevoice the stars hid their beams, and the moon herself grew pale."
Minna moved with slow and tremulous step towards the rude seat thusindicated to her. It was composed of stone, formed into some semblanceof a chair by the rough and unskilful hand of some ancient Gothicartist.
Brenda, creeping as close as possible to her father, seated herselfalong with him upon a bench at some distance from Minna, and kept hereyes, with a mixture of fear, pity, and anxiety, closely fixed uponher. It would be difficult altogether to decipher the emotions by whichthis amiable and affectionate girl was agitated at the moment. Deficientin her sister's predominating quality of high imagination, and littlecredulous, of course, to the marvellous, she could not but entertainsome vague and indefinite fears on her own account, concerning thenature of the scene which was soon to take place. But these were in amanner swallowed up in her apprehensions on the score of her sister,who, with a frame so much weakened, spirits so much exhausted, and amind so susceptible of the impressions which all around her wascalculated to excite, now sat pensively resigned to the agency of one,whose treatment might produce the most baneful effects upon such asubject.
Brenda gazed at Minna, who sat in that rude chair of dark stone, herfinely formed shape and limbs making the strongest contrast with itsponderous and irregular angles, her cheek and lip
s as pale as clay, andher eyes turned upward, and lighted with the mixture of resignation andexcited enthusiasm, which belonged to her disease and her character. Theyounger sister then looked on Norna, who muttered to herself in a lowmonotonous manner, as, gliding from one place to another, she collecteddifferent articles, which she placed one by one on the table. Andlastly, Brenda looked anxiously to her father, to gather, if possible,from his countenance, whether he entertained any part of her own fearsfor the consequences of the scene which was to ensue, considering thestate of Minna's health and spirits. But Magnus Troil seemed to have nosuch apprehensions; he viewed with stern composure Norna'spreparations, and appeared to wait the event with the composure of one,who, confiding in the skill of a medical artist, sees him preparing toenter upon some important and painful operation, in the issue of whichhe is interested by friendship or by affection.
Norna, meanwhile, went onward with her preparations, until she hadplaced on the stone table a variety of miscellaneous articles, and amongthe rest, a small chafing-dish full of charcoal, a crucible, and a pieceof thin sheet-lead. She then spoke aloud--"It is well that I was awareof your coming hither--ay, long before you yourself had resolved it--howshould I else have been prepared for that which is now to bedone?--Maiden," she continued, addressing Minna, "where lies thy pain?"
The patient answered, by pressing her hand to the left side of herbosom.
"Even so," replied Norna, "even so--'tis the site of weal or woe.--Andyou, her father and her sister, think not this the idle speech of onewho talks by guess--if I can tell thee ill, it may be that I shall beable to render that less severe, which may not, by any aid, be whollyamended.--The heart--ay, the heart--touch that, and the eye grows dim,the pulse fails, the wholesome stream of our blood is choked andtroubled, our limbs decay like sapless sea-weed in a summer's sun; ourbetter views of existence are past and gone; what remains is the dreamof lost happiness, or the fear of inevitable evil. But the Reimkennarmust to her work--well it is that I have prepared the means."
She threw off her long dark-coloured mantle, and stood before them inher short jacket of light-blue wadmaal, with its skirt of the samestuff, fancifully embroidered with black velvet, and bound at the waistwith a chain or girdle of silver, formed into singular devices. Nornanext undid the fillet which bound her grizzled hair, and shaking herhead wildly, caused it to fall in dishevelled abundance over her faceand around her shoulders, so as almost entirely to hide her features.She then placed a small crucible on the chafing-dish alreadymentioned,--dropped a few drops from a vial on the charcoalbelow,--pointed towards it her wrinkled forefinger, which she hadpreviously moistened with liquid from another small bottle, and saidwith a deep voice, "Fire, do thy duty;"--and the words were no soonerspoken, than, probably by some chemical combination of which thespectators were not aware, the charcoal which was under the cruciblebecame slowly ignited; while Norna, as if impatient of the delay, threwhastily back her disordered tresses, and, while her features reflectedthe sparkles and red light of the fire, and her eyes flashed fromamongst her hair like those of a wild animal from its cover, blewfiercely till the whole was in an intense glow. She paused a moment fromher toil, and muttering that the elemental spirit must be thanked,recited, in her usual monotonous, yet wild mode of chanting, thefollowing verses:--
"Thou so needful, yet so dread, With cloudy crest, and wing of red; Thou, without whose genial breath The North would sleep the sleep of death; Who deign'st to warm the cottage hearth, Yet hurl'st proud palaces to earth,-- Brightest, keenest of the Powers, Which form and rule this world of ours, With my rhyme of Runic, I Thank thee for thy agency."
She then severed a portion from the small mass of sheet-lead which layupon the table, and, placing it in the crucible, subjected it to theaction of the lighted charcoal, and, as it melted, she sung,--
"Old Reimkennar, to thy art Mother Hertha sends her part; She, whose gracious bounty gives Needful food for all that lives. From the deep mine of the North, Came the mystic metal forth, Doom'd, amidst disjointed stones, Long to cere a champion's bones, Disinhumed my charms to aid-- Mother Earth, my thanks are paid."
She then poured out some water from the jar into a large cup, or goblet,and sung once more, as she slowly stirred it round with the end of herstaff:--
"Girdle of our islands dear, Element of Water, hear Thou whose power can overwhelm Broken mounds and ruin'd realm On the lowly Belgian strand; All thy fiercest rage can never Of our soil a furlong sever From our rock-defended land; Play then gently thou thy part, To assist old Norna's art."
She then, with a pair of pincers, removed the crucible from thechafing-dish, and poured the lead, now entirely melted, into the bowl ofwater, repeating at the same time,--
"Elements, each other greeting, Gifts and powers attend your meeting!"
The melted lead, spattering as it fell into the water, formed, ofcourse, the usual combination of irregular forms which is familiar toall who in childhood have made the experiment, and from which, accordingto our childish fancy, we may have selected portions bearing someresemblance to domestic articles--the tools of mechanics, or the like.Norna seemed to busy herself in some such researches, for she examinedthe mass of lead with scrupulous attention, and detached it intodifferent portions, without apparently being able to find a fragment inthe form which she desired.
At length she again muttered, rather as speaking to herself than to herguests, "He, the Viewless, will not be omitted,--he will have histribute even in the work to which he gives nothing.--Stern compeller ofthe clouds, thou also shalt hear the voice of the Reimkennar."
Thus speaking, Norna once more threw the lead into the crucible, where,hissing and spattering as the wet metal touched the sides of the red-hotvessel, it was soon again reduced into a state of fusion. The sibylmeantime turned to a corner of the apartment, and opening suddenly awindow which looked to the north-west, let in the fitful radiance of thesun, now lying almost level upon a great mass of red clouds, which,boding future tempest, occupied the edge of the horizon, and seemed tobrood over the billows of the boundless sea. Turning to this quarter,from which a low hollow moaning breeze then blew, Norna addressed theSpirit of the Winds, in tones which seemed to resemble his own:--
"Thou, that over billows dark Safely send'st the fisher's bark,-- Giving him a path and motion Through the wilderness of ocean; Thou, that when the billows brave ye, O'er the shelves canst drive the navy,-- Did'st thou chafe as one neglected, While thy brethren were respected? To appease thee, see, I tear This full grasp of grizzled hair; Oft thy breath hath through it sung, Softening to my magic tongue,-- Now, 'tis thine to bid it fly Through the wide expanse of sky, 'Mid the countless swarms to sail Of wild-fowl wheeling on thy gale; Take thy portion and rejoice,-- Spirit, thou hast heard my voice!"
Norna accompanied these words with the action which they described,tearing a handful of hair with vehemence from her head, and strewing itupon the wind as she continued her recitation. She then shut thecasement, and again involved the chamber in the dubious twilight, whichbest suited her character and occupation. The melted lead was once moreemptied into the water, and the various whimsical conformations which itreceived from the operation were examined with great care by the sibyl,who at length seemed to intimate, by voice and gesture, that her spellhad been successful. She selected from the fused metal a piece about thesize of a small nut, bearing in shape a close resemblance to that of thehuman heart, and, approaching Minna, again spoke in song:--
"She who sits by haunted well, Is subject to the Nixie's spell; She who walks on lonely beach To the Mermaid's charmed speech; She who walks round ring of green, Offends the peevish Fairy Queen; And she who takes rest in the Dwarfie's cave, A weary weird of woe shall have.
"By ring, by spring, by cave, by shore, Minna Troil has braved all this and more: And yet hath the root of her sorrow and ill A source that's more deep and more mystical still."
Minna, whose att
ention had been latterly something disturbed byreflections on her own secret sorrow, now suddenly recalled it, andlooked eagerly on Norna as if she expected to learn from her rhymessomething of deep interest. The northern sibyl, meanwhile, proceeded topierce the piece of lead, which bore the form of a heart, and to fix init a piece of gold wire, by which it might be attached to a chain ornecklace. She then proceeded in her rhyme,--
"Thou art within a demon's hold, More wise than Heims, more strong than Trolld; No siren sings so sweet as he,-- No fay springs lighter on the lea; No elfin power hath half the art To soothe, to move, to wring the heart,-- Life-blood from the cheek to drain, Drench the eye, and dry the vein. Maiden, ere we farther go, Dost thou note me, ay or no?"
Minna replied in the same rhythmical manner, which, in jest and earnest,was frequently used by the ancient Scandinavians,--
"I mark thee, my mother, both word, look, and sign; Speak on with the riddle--to read it be mine."
"Now, Heaven and every saint be praised!" said Magnus; "they are thefirst words to the purpose which she hath spoken these many days."
"And they are the last which she shall speak for many a month," saidNorna, incensed at the interruption, "if you again break the progress ofmy spell. Turn your faces to the wall, and look not hitherward again,under penalty of my severe displeasure. You, Magnus Troil, fromhard-hearted audacity of spirit, and you, Brenda, from wanton and idledisbelief in that which is beyond your bounded comprehension, areunworthy to look on this mystic work; and the glance of your eyesmingles with, and weakens, the spell; for the powers cannot brookdistrust."
Unaccustomed to be addressed in a tone so peremptory, Magnus would havemade some angry reply; but reflecting that the health of Minna was atstake, and considering that she who spoke was a woman of many sorrows,he suppressed his anger, bowed his head, shrugged his shoulders, assumedthe prescribed posture, averting his head from the table, and turningtowards the wall. Brenda did the same, on receiving a sign from herfather, and both remained profoundly silent.
Norna then addressed Minna once more,--
"Mark me! for the word I speak Shall bring the colour to thy cheek. This leaden heart, so light of cost, The symbol of a treasure lost, Thou shalt wear in hope and in peace, That the cause of your sickness and sorrow may cease, When crimson foot meets crimson hand In the Martyrs' Aisle, and in Orkney-land."
Minna coloured deeply at the last couplet, intimating, as she failed notto interpret it, that Norna was completely acquainted with the secretcause of her sorrow. The same conviction led the maiden to hope in thefavourable issue, which the sibyl seemed to prophesy; and not venturingto express her feelings in any manner more intelligible, she pressedNorna's withered hand with all the warmth of affection, first to herbreast and then to her bosom, bedewing it at the same time with hertears.
With more of human feeling than she usually exhibited, Norna extricatedher hand from the grasp of the poor girl, whose tears now flowed freely,and then, with more tenderness of manner than she had yet shown, sheknotted the leaden heart to a chain of gold, and hung it around Minna'sneck, singing, as she performed that last branch of the spell,--
"Be patient, be patient, for Patience hath power To ward us in danger, like mantle in shower; A fairy gift you best may hold In a chain of fairy gold; The chain and the gift are each a true token, That not without warrant old Norna has spoken; But thy nearest and dearest must never behold them, Till time shall accomplish the truths I have told them."
The verses being concluded, Norna carefully arranged the chain aroundher patient's neck so as to hide it in her bosom, and thus ended thespell--a spell which, at the moment I record these incidents, it isknown, has been lately practised in Zetland, where any decline ofhealth, without apparent cause, is imputed by the lower orders to ademon having stolen the heart from the body of the patient, and wherethe experiment of supplying the deprivation by a leaden one, prepared inthe manner described, has been resorted to within these few years. In ametaphorical sense, the disease may be considered as a general one inall parts of the world; but, as this simple and original remedy ispeculiar to the isles of Thule, it were unpardonable not to preserve itat length, in a narrative connected with Scottish antiquities.[21]
A second time Norna reminded her patient, that if she showed, or spokeof, the fairy gifts, their virtue would be lost--a belief so common asto be received into the superstitions of all nations. Lastly,unbuttoning the collar which she had just fastened, she showed her alink of the gold chain, which Minna instantly recognised as thatformerly given by Norna to Mordaunt Mertoun. This seemed to intimate hewas yet alive, and under Norna's protection and she gazed on her withthe most eager curiosity. But the sibyl imposed her finger on her lipsin token of silence, and a second time involved the chain in those foldswhich modestly and closely veiled one of the most beautiful, as well asone of the kindest, bosoms in the world.
Norna then extinguished the lighted charcoal, and, as the water hissedupon the glowing embers, commanded Magnus and Brenda to look around, andbehold her task accomplished.
FOOTNOTES:
[20] The MacRaws were followers of the MacKenzies, whose chief has thename of Caberfae, or Buckshead, from the cognisance borne on hisstandards. Unquestionably the worthy piper trained the seal on the sameprinciple of respect to the clan-term which I have heard has been taughtto dogs, who, unused to any other air, dance after their fashion to thetune of Caberfae.
[21] The spells described in this chapter are not altogether imaginary.By this mode of pouring lead into water, and selecting the part whichchances to assume a resemblance to the human heart, which must be wornby the patient around her or his neck, the sage persons of Zetlandpretend to cure the fatal disorder called the loss of a heart.