The Knights of the Cross, or, Krzyzacy: Historical RomanceSienkiewicz, Henryk
History
The Knights of the Cross, or, Krzyzacy: Historical Romance
Sienkiewicz, Henryk
Poland -- History -- Jagellons, 1386-1572 -- Fiction; Teutonic Knights -- History -- Fiction
And Jurand removed his hands from his face and inquired: "Which of them
were in the Forest Court?"
"There were Danveld, old von Löve, and two brethren, Godfried and
Rotgier," replied the priest.
"They made complaint and wished the prince to order you to release von
Bergow from imprisonment. But the prince, being informed by de Fourcy
that the Germans were the first to attack you, rebuked and dismissed them
without satisfaction."
"Go to Spychow," said the prince, "because they will apply to you there.
They failed to do it till now, because this young knight's follower
crushed Danveld's arm when bearing the challenge to them. Go to Spychow,
and if they apply, inform me. They will send your daughter back in
exchange for von Bergow, but I shall nevertheless take vengeance, because
they disgraced me also by carrying her off from my court."
Here the prince began to get angry again, for the Teutons had entirely
exhausted his patience, and after a moment he added:
"Hej! They blew and blew the fire, but they will end by burning their
mouths."
"They will deny it," repeated the priest Wyszoniek.
"If they once inform Jurand that the girl is with them, then they will
not be able to deny it," somewhat impatiently replied Mikolaj of
Dlugolas. "He believes that they are not keeping her on the border, and
that, as Jurand has justly pointed out, they have carried her to some
distant castle or to the seashore, but if there be proof that they are
the perpetrators, then they will not disclaim it before the master."
But Jurand said in a strange and, at the same time, terrible tone:
"Danveld, von Löve, Godfried and Rotgier."
Mikolaj of Dlugolas also recommended that experienced and shrewd people
be sent to Prussia, to find out whether Jurand's daughter was there, and
if not, whither she had been taken; then the prince took the staff in his
hand and went out to give the necessary orders; the princess again turned
to Jurand to speak encouraging words:
"How are you?" she inquired.
He did not reply for a moment, as if he had not heard the question, but
then he suddenly said:
"As if one had struck me in an old wound."
"But trust in God's mercy; Danusia will come back as soon as you return
von Bergow to them. I would willingly sacrifice my own blood."
The princess hesitated whether to say anything about the marriage now,
but, considering a little, she did not wish to add new worries to
Jurand's already great misfortunes, and at the same time she was seized
with a certain fear. "They will look for her with Zbyszko; may he find an
occasion to tell him," she said to herself, "otherwise he may entirely
lose his mind." She therefore preferred to discuss other matters.
"Do not blame us," she said. "People wearing your livery arrived with a
writing under your seal, informing us that you were ill, that your eyes
were closing, and that you wished to look once more upon your child. How
could we oppose it and not obey a father's command?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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