Don Rodriguez; Chronicles of Shadow ValleyDunsany, Lord
Science
Don Rodriguez; Chronicles of Shadow Valley
Dunsany, Lord
Fantasy fiction, English; Magicians -- Fiction; Spain -- Fiction
And so Rodriguez sang among the tents, standing by a great fire to
which they led him; and men came from the tents and into the circle of
light, and in the darkness outside it were more than Rodriguez saw. And
he sang to the circle of men and the vague glimmer of faces. Songs of
their homes he sang them, not in their language, but songs that were
made by old poets about the homes of their infancy, in valleys under
far mountains remote from the Pyrenees. And in the song the yearnings
of dead poets lived again, all streaming homeward like swallows when
the last of the storms is gone: and those yearnings echoed in the
hearts that beat in the night around the campfire, and they saw their
own homes. And then he began to touch his mandolin; and he played them
the tunes that draw men from their homes and that march them away to
war. The tunes flowed up from the firelight: the mandolin knew. And the
men heard the mandolin saying what they would say.
In the late night he ended, and a hush came down on the camp while the
music floated away, going up from the dark ring of men and the fire-lit
faces, touching perhaps the knees of the Pyrenees and drifting thence
wherever echoes go. And the sparks of the camp-fire went straight
upwards as they had done for hours, and the men that sat around it saw
them go: for long they had not seen the sparks stream upwards, for
their thoughts were far away with the mandolin. And all at once they
cheered. And Rodriguez bowed to the one whose tent he had entered, and
sought permission to fight for them in the morning.
With good grace this was accorded him, and while he bowed and well
expressed his thanks he felt Morano touching his elbow. And as soon as
he had gone aside with Morano that fat man's words bubbled over and
were said.
"Master, fight not for these men," he exclaimed, "for they listen to
song till midnight while the others prepare for battle. The others will
win the fight, master, and where will your castle be?"
"Morano," said Rodriguez, "there seems to be truth in that. Yet must we
fight for the right. For how would it be if those that have denied song
should win and thrive? The arm of every good man must be against them.
They have denied song, Morano! We must fight against them, you and I,
while we can lay sword to head."
"Yes, indeed, master," said Morano. "But how shall you come by your
castle?"
"As for that," said Rodriguez, "it must some day be won, yet not by
denying song. These have given a welcome to song, and the others have
driven it forth. And what would life be if those that deny song are to
be permitted to thrive unmolested by all good men?"
"I know not, master," said Morano, "but I would have that castle."
"Enough," said Rodriguez. "We must fight for the right."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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