The Gold Sickle; Or, Hena, The Virgin of The Isle of Sen. A Tale of Druid GaulSue, Eugène
History
The Gold Sickle; Or, Hena, The Virgin of The Isle of Sen. A Tale of Druid Gaul
Sue, Eugène
Druids and druidism -- Fiction; Gaul -- History -- To 58 B.C. -- Fiction
Joel and Margarid, their three sons, Guilhern, Albinik and Mikael,
Guilhern's wife and little children all of whom so dearly loved Hena,
all her relatives and all the members of her tribe held one another in a
close embrace, and said to one another:
"There is Hena.... There is our Hena!"
As the virgin of the Isle of Sen stood upon the pyre that was ornamented
with white veils, greens and flowers, the crowds of the tribes cried in
one voice: "How beautiful she is!... How holy!"
Joel writes it now down in all sincerity. His daughter Hena was indeed
very beautiful as she stood erect on the pyre, lighted by the mellow
light of the moon and resplendent in her black tunic, her blonde hair
and her green chaplet, while her arms, whiter than ivory, embraced her
gold harp!
The bards ordered silence.
The virgin of the Isle of Sen sang in a voice as pure as her own soul:
"The daughter of Joel and Margarid comes to offer gladly her life as a
sacrifice to Hesus!
"Oh, All-Powerful! From the stranger deliver the soil of our father!
"Gauls of Britanny, you have the lance and the sword!
"The daughter of Joel and Margarid has but her blood. She offers it
voluntarily to Hesus!
"Oh, Almighty God! Render invincible the Gallic lance and sword! Oh,
Hesus, take my blood, it is yours ... save our sacred fatherland!"
The eldest of the female druids stood all this while on the pyre behind
Hena with the sacred knife in her hand. When Hena's chant was ended, the
knife glistened in the air and struck the virgin of the Isle of Sen.
Her mother and her brothers, all the members of her tribe and her father
Joel saw Hena fall upon her knees, cross her arms, turn her celestial
face towards the moon, and cry with a still sonorous voice:
"Hesus ... Hesus ... by the blood that flows.... Mercy for Gaul!"
"Gauls, by this blood that flows, victory to our arms!"
Thus the sacrifice of Hena was consummated amidst the religious
admiration of the tribes. All repeated the last words of the brave
virgin:
"Hesus, mercy for Gaul!... Gauls, victory to our arms!"
Several young men, being fired with enthusiasm by the heroic example and
beauty of Hena sought to kill themselves upon her pyre in order to be
re-born with her. The ewaghs held them back. The flames soon enveloped
the pyre and Hena vanished in their dazzling splendor. A few minutes
later there was nothing left of the virgin and her pyre but a heap of
ashes. A high wind sat in from the sea and dispersed the atoms. The
virgin of the Isle of Sen, brilliant and pure as the flame that consumed
her, had vanished into space to be re-born and to await beyond for the
arrival of those whom she had loved.
The cymbals and harps resounded anew, and the chief of the bards struck
up the chant:
"To arms, ye Gauls, to arms!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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